


Fragile Foundations

by sittingonthegrass



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: A tale of two zukos, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Azula (avatar) devolution, Azula has abandonment issues, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, I could have called this fic the things we lost in the fire, Manipulation, Mental Illness, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, POV Multiple, Rated for Azula's devolution, There are two Zukos, but a bit of shifting, but only for Azula, mostly Azula, no beta we become incorporeal like yue, no i swear, that's canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:48:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 30,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26826871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sittingonthegrass/pseuds/sittingonthegrass
Summary: “Zuko?” Azula breathed, and she heard her voice shake. “This isn’t your room, Zuzu, it’s mine. You shouldn’t be here anyways…” She trailed off, because it was at that moment that she realized that Zuko’s face was unmarred. Just this afternoon, she had seen her brother’s left side get terrifically burned. She remembered how Zuko lay curled around himself on the ground as Ozai walked away. Azula remembered how she had smiled viciously as she watched.Still, an unharmed Zuko stood right there, glaring at her.---Azula began to unravel far earlier than anyone realized, right after her brother was banished.
Relationships: Azula & Mai & Ty Lee (Avatar), Azula & Mai (Avatar), Azula & Ty Lee (Avatar), Azula & Ursa (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Comments: 61
Kudos: 177





	1. An Only Child

**Author's Note:**

> I have sixteen chapters planned, but that number could very well go up, I'm not in control of my own writing, it does what it wants.
> 
> I think warnings would be a good idea:  
> Canon typical child abuse  
> Canon typical violence  
> Graphic descriptions of wounds  
> Mental Illness  
> Hallucinations and Delusions  
> Disordered Thinking  
> (lmk if you think I missed something)
> 
> Alternate Chapter Title: Azula was only 11 when Zuko was banished??

Zuko had been banished.

It had happened that very afternoon. Azula knew he had deserved it, he had always been weaker and softer than he was supposed to be. He was certainly softer than herself or their father. The ordeal before his banishment had been quite the spectacle, and Azula had watched the whole thing, smiling through it all. She, along with everyone else, knew she was better than her older brother. Everyone else that mattered knew it, anyways. Still, seeing her father show so blatantly and publicly what he thought of the crown prince had been quite satisfying. Jarring, but satisfying.

However, that night, it started seemed more jarring than satisfying.

The eleven year old princess fell asleep to visions of standing by her father’s side as the world burned around them. His hand was on her shoulder, and he was proud of her for all the hard work she had put in for the nation. It was just the two of them, and Azula knew she was more than capable of achieving enough to make up for Zuko’s removal.

Azula smiled at the roaring flames around her and tilted her head back to look into her father’s face, which she hoped would be smiling back at her. However, instead of a loving smile, she saw a fierce glare.

He ripped his hand away from her shoulder, growling, “You have failed me. You must learn respect.” Azula watched as the fire circling them was sucked into his palm, creating a smaller flame balanced in his hand. He started to lower his hand towards Azula’s face, and she felt the heat begin to lick at the ends of her hair. Her father’s powerful glare had faded into indifference, which was somehow even worse.

“Father,” Azula pleaded, “I would never disrespect you. I’m not Zuko, I’m your daughter.”

Ozai was now holding his fiery palm against the smooth skin of her face, and although the flame was alarmingly hot and her hair was on fire, it didn’t hurt. Azula just gazed into her father’s cold, fierce eyes.

Azula woke with a start, her thin frame curled and twisted around her blankets. She was panting, and she reached up to touch the right side of her face where the fire had been in her dream. She touched her smooth cheek, and her fingers came away wet with tears. Disgusted, she growled and untangled herself from the thin sheet. She stood firmly at her bedside, taking in the spacious, empty room around her. She blew some hair out of her face and put one hand on her hip. Well, now that she was up, perhaps she could get some planning done.

She grabbed a hairbrush from her bedside table and ran it through her hair a few times. She rarely brushed her hair on her own, so she soon grew frustrated by the way the brush caught in the snarls formed by tossing and turning in her sleep. She slammed the brush back down, and instead tied her hair away from her face at the nape of her neck. She was going to have to learn to do her own hair one of these days. She supposed, as the princess, she didn’t truly need to, but the independence would be empowering, in a way.

Just as she was about to walk out for a stroll around the palace, she heard a sound coming from her sitting room. She spun around, listening intently. It came again, and it sounded like the voice of a boy. Her heart was hammering in her chest, but she was careful not to show any fear. Fear was weakness, and when dealing with an adversary, you couldn’t show them any weakness. She summoned a flame in her hand, and held it far out in front of her, creeping towards her sitting room.

Once she was at the doorway, the voice came again, and she could just make out what he was saying, “Azula? Azula, get out of my room!” She knew exactly who it was.

Her flame lit up the room just enough to make out an outline of her brother, his arms crossed stiffly and his hair down around his shoulders. Against her will, the hand holding the flame began to shake, and it flared up a bit, creating a brighter flame. She was now able to make out Zuko’s scowl and his dao blades tied at his hip. She never understood why her brother was so interested in knives. Perhaps it was because he was such an inferior firebender, but surely that only meant he should spend more time trying to master his element, not waste time playing with swords. Their father didn't know about his twin swords, and although Azula had taunted Zuko with threats to tell him, she never did.

“Zuko?” Azula breathed, and she heard her voice shake. She drew herself up to her full height to gather her courage, and snapped, “This isn’t your room, Zuzu, it’s mine. You shouldn’t be here anyways…” She trailed off, because it was at that moment that she realized that Zuko’s face was unmarred. Just this afternoon, she had seen her brother’s left side get terrifically burned. She had heard him scream and watched as he clutched his face and fell to the ground. She remember how, when their father took his hand away, the fire didn’t immediately go out, instead it had flared hotter with Zuko’s yell and the flames had spread to Zuko’s neck and across his hair. She remembered how Zuko lay curled around himself on the ground as Ozai walked away. Azula remembered how she had smiled viciously while watching.

Still, an unharmed Zuko was standing here, in her room, when Azula knew he should be halfway out of the Fire Nation by now, maybe even already in the Earth Kingdom. “No, it’s not, it’s mine. Get out of here!” Zuko yelled, just as hot headed as he had been a week ago. Zuko became more insufferable everyday, as far as Azula was concerned. It usually made it easier to tease and get a rise out of him, but right now, Azula was having trouble responding at all.

She squeezed her eyes shut, so tightly that white spots began to stand out in the darkness behind her eyelids. When she opened her eyes again, Zuko was gone. She gasped and her fire went out. She didn’t bother lighting it again.

However, she suddenly remembered her plan to go for a walk, and she almost ran to the heavy metal door at the entrance to her chambers. She flung the door open, and was surprised to find her nose right up against a guard’s back. The guard spun around and bowed low to Azula, removing her elaborate helmet to do so.

“Your highness,” She said, respectfully.

“Hm,” Azula replied, hoping she wasn’t white as a sheet. Well, this was new. Normally the guards were several paces away from her room, not blocking the exit outright. This one was nearly invading her private quarters.

“Out of my way,” Azula demanded, surprised that the guard was still hovering right in front of her.

“Princess, please return to bed, it’s very late.” The guard was still bowing, so Azula was staring at the top of her head. She noticed there was a mole nestled in the part of her hair, and she smirked at the imperfection.

By the time she spoke again, however, all traces of the smirk were gone. “I’d like to go for a late night walk. Out of my way,” Azula repeated. When the guard stayed frozen, Azula sighed dramatically, and added, “You may rise.”

The guard stood, but did not yield. Azula glared at her, about to pull rank, but another two guards stepped into view; apparently they had been flanking the entrance.

“Your highness,” One of the new guards greeted her, this one had large, distracting nostrils, flaring out from his nose. “We have strict orders to protect you, and to keep you safe you must stay in your chambers at night.”

Azula scoffed, “What is the meaning of this sudden security increase?” Recalling today’s events and her unsettling vision, she said haughtily, “Oh, I assume this has something to do with Zuko?”

The three guards bristled and exchanged glances. While Azula knew exactly what had happened to her brother and why, she was aware that the specifics of the disgraced prince’s banishment were being kept under wraps.

“Well, yes, your highness,” Mole-Scalp said. “After Prince Zuko’s banishment, we’ve had to increase security considerably.”

“Why?” Azula asked, genuinely confused, but she disguised it with arrogance. “Are you worried he’ll try to attack me? He’s long gone.” The three guards didn’t respond. They just stared at the young princess as she spoke. “Even if he was nearby, Zuzu has neither the guts nor the skills to even get to me, let alone best me in a fight, if it came to it. Though,” She added thoughtfully, “I doubt I’ll ever even see him again, let alone fight him.” She laughed. She supposed that wasn’t the reason security had increased; everyone just felt a bit disoriented after the prince had been banished. Still, she enjoyed having the three frightened faces fixed on her. So, she pressed on, “And you would do well to stop referring to my brother as the ‘prince’. Zuko is a dishonorable outcast; he reflects badly on our nation.”

“Your highness, if I may,” The third guard spoke, this one had a large gap between his two front teeth. Azula was surprised by the quality of the guards chosen to watch over the princess of the Fire Nation. She would have to ask for some new ones. “I understand there is a condition that may allow… your brother to return someday. I don’t quite know what it is, but he’s not necessarily gone forever.”

His two companions shot him identical worried looks, but Azula smiled. “Oh yes, there is a condition. As soon as Zuzu captures the avatar,” Azula let out a bark of laughter at this, “Then he’ll be allowed to come back, he’ll get his honor back and you,” She pointed aggressively at Gap-Tooth, “will get to call him ‘Prince Zuko’ again. But, until then, drop the title.” The guards’ jaws all dropped and they stared at the princess, not even bothering to conceal their alarm. It was true, it was less of a “condition” of banishment and more of a wild herring-goose chase to keep the adolescent busy, or perhaps just a cruel joke. Azula knew this, as did her father, she was sure, and Zuko probably knew it too. But Azula knew her brother too well; that boy was going to spend the rest of his life tracking down the non-existent avatar, and for some reason, Azula wasn’t exactly sure what to feel about that.

Realizing the guards were never going to let her out, and wanting to end the conversation on her own terms, Azula turned on her heel and locked herself in her chambers.

~ ~ ~

The instant the sun poked into the sky at the horizon, Azula marched out past her guards. There was no window in her chambers, but, powerful firebender that she was, Azula could feel the sun’s rays filling her with their power as soon as day broke. As she strode down the passage just outside her room, she realized there were far more guards than she had accounted for last night. They lined the hallways more densely than ever before. How had she not noticed last night? Azula was a perceptive girl, surely she should have taken note of a change like this, and yet, she had missed it entirely. What else had she missed? The notion that she had been missing important details for all of her life unnerved her. Azula silently vowed that she would never let anything escape her notice again.

Today she was having breakfast with her father. Two days ago, she had eaten with both her father and Zuko. Three years ago, both her parents and her brother had sat at the same table to eat. How time could change things.

As she turned into a new corridor, she heard a voice coming from a stairwell. This time, she recognized him right away: it was Zuko, and he was crying. If it weren’t for the fear that was starting to overtake Azula, she would have been disgusted. Crying was for the weak; and Zuko’s soft sobs were especially pathetic. Steeling herself, she scoffed at the crying Zuko, trying not to wonder how he could be both here, and in a crumby old navy vessel floating in Earth Kingdom waters at once.

“Azula? Is that you?” She heard footsteps as from the stairwell. “Please, get uncle, I need help,” He said, his tears making his voice thick.

Azula backed away from the staircase, a creepy feeling rising the hair on the back of her neck. “Go away. You’re not supposed to be here,” She snapped, keeping her voice powerful and cool. Surely, she had control of this situation.

Then, her brother stepped out of the shadows. His face wasn’t smooth and unmarked anymore, and Azula had to cover her mouth with her hand to keep from crying out. She supposed this was actually what Zuko looked like right now. She hadn’t got a clear look at her brother’s face yesterday; there had been too much fire and Zuko had fallen to the ground, his face in his hands, but now… Now his face was waxy and so bright red, except for a ring around his eye which was brown. His skin was lumpy and uneven, blood and puss oozed out at the edges of his wound. His skin had been flayed away and she was staring at the too-thin barrier of skin keeping his face together. It was so red, that it almost looked like his eye was still on fire. Tears tracked down the unharmed side of his face.

“Do something!” He demanded, his breath hitching, taking another step towards her.

Azula didn’t realize she had been backing away from the boy, her brother, until she bumped into the wall behind her. Breathing hard, she edged along the wall, continuing the way she had been going before. Zuko didn’t take his eyes off her as she crept away. Somehow, both golden irises followed her movements, although the skin around his left eye was terribly warped, surely interfering with his sight. Azula felt real fear dig into her very bones, and she turned away from her disfigured brother and bolted down the hallway.

“Azula!” He cried. She ran faster; she had always been faster than Zuko, she could outrun him.

“Princess Azula!” His voice was no farther away, even though surely she should have been able to put some distance between them. She skidded around a corner, still heading towards the breakfast room.

“Your highness, please stop!” Your highness? Zuko would never call her that. Azula had occasionally used his title to irritate him soon after their father became Firelord, but Zuko never returned the insult. Careful not to slow down, she peaked over her shoulder. Instead of a strange version of her older brother, she saw Scalp-Mole, the guard, running after her. Relief hit her in waves and she slowed down, turning all the way around to face the guard.

Mole-Scalp jogged up to stand in front of Azula, panting. “Your highness, what happened? Did something frighten you?”

Azula ignored the question. “You followed me all the way here from my room.”

The guards pants were lessening. “Yes your highness, my orders are to protect you.”

“Hm,” Azula frowned. Why on Earth had her father decided Azula needed more protection? There was nothing new to protect her from. (Well, not that her father knew of. Considering Zuko’s recent appearances, she thought perhaps she wasn’t as safe as she thought.) She decided not to raise hell about this intrusion of privacy in the name of security. At least, not right now. She turned on her heel and kept walking.

“Your highness, what was it that frightened you? I need to know so I can properly protect you.”

Azula responded with a question of her own. “Guard, have you been watching me carefully?”

“Of course your highness,” She was quick to answer. “I haven’t let you out of my sight since this morning.”

How odd. Azula thought. So the guard had not seen Zuko come out of the stairwell, begging for help. What did that mean?

Before she could try to unpack that, she realized once again she had not noticed something else: the guard had been following her for several minutes. She felt an uneasy feeling climb in her stomach, and she squared her shoulders, her eyes darting side to side as she walked, doing her best to take everything in. She had only just made the promise to be more perceptive, and she was already failing.

The guard did not ask what Azula any more questions, realizing that the young princess was never going to answer. Instead, she loosely followed her to breakfast.

~ ~ ~

Her father wasn’t at the table. She asked a servant by the door if the Fire Lord was to be joining her, but the servant didn’t know. Azula slowly sat at her usual place at the low table. She had never eaten breakfast alone before. Just yesterday she had silently dined with Zuko before he went to that war meeting. She wondered if he had been planning on wrestling his way in as they were sitting here, but she shook off that thought. Zuko’s decision making process was rash, the thought had probably occurred to him as he passed the war room. She chuckled, wishing he was there so she could say the insult aloud, but she quickly shook off that thought, too.

Usually, she ate with her brother and her father, and two years ago, she had eaten all her meals with both her parents and Zuko. They weren’t exactly happy memories, but still, a shadow of nostalgia pricked at her heart.

Frowning at this sudden inner softness, she picked up a piece of buttered bread and bit into it neatly.


	2. Love is for Fools

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternative Chapter Title: You seem... different. New haircut? Or is it because your father is eliminating your family members one by one, and you need to be perfect or you'll be next?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, all of you who read, and left kudos and comments so far! I kind of expected maybe 4 people to see this total, so I greatly appreciate it!!
> 
> Oh yeah, I'm ignoring the comics, just so you all know.

A twelve-year-old Azula practiced her fire bending forms with deadly precision. Her blue flames flared out all around the courtyard as she kicked and leapt and punched. Narrow plumes of fire shot out of her manicured fingers ferociously, her expression deadened. When she landed her next shot perfectly, she allowed a small, cold smile to grace her lips. Before continuing, she flattened her features back to indifference, then methodically took three steps, and jumped into the air with a spin. As she ascended, she faced her ancient mentors, Lo and Li, and was shocked to find a third woman standing at their side. A woman who was all too familiar for Azula’s liking.

In the next instant, she was falling out of the air and landing on her rear in the dust, her eyes fixed on her mother. Ursa didn’t respond to Azula’s stumble, keeping her deeply sad expression. But Azula knew that Ursa was gone. Not just gone, but surely dead. Azula squeezed her eyes shut.

She heard Lo, or perhaps Li, say, “Princess Azula? Are you alright?”

Azula slowly opened her eyes. Thankfully, her mother was gone, but Azula could still feel the disappointment Ursa had in her daughter hanging in the space Ursa had just vacated. Azula couldn't take her eyes off of that spot of dead air, even as she felt the pair of elderly women staring at her. They hadn’t stepped onto the courtyard, but they seemed concerned, much to Azula’s disgust.

She got to her feet, trying to act collected before she had the chance to collect herself, adjusting her cuffs and dusting off her pants. She knew if she scrambled to an upright position, the dignity of standing would be offset by her obvious haste, and momentary struggle, to get there.

As she spoke, she set to making sure every hair was back into place. “I’m fine, thank you. I’ll do the set again tonight.” And she turned to leave the courtyard.

Li spoke, “Princess, you have half an hour more of your lesson.”

Azula stiffened. She didn’t give Lo and Li the pleasure of turning to face them. “As princess of the Fire Nation, I outrank you. I can arrange my schedule however I like. I will see you again tonight before the sun sets for the remainder of my lesson.” She waited for them to acquiesce.

They didn’t. “Princess Azula, your father gave us full control over your training so that you may become the strongest you can possibly be. While it’s true that you outrank us, we all must obey the Fire Lord.”

Azula stood at the edge of the courtyard, staring at the outdoor walkway that would take her to her meditation room. She caught a glimpse of Mole-Scalp, who still followed her around everywhere, waiting under the narrow, red roof.  


Azula turned back to Lo and Li, keeping up her collected demeanor now that she had fixed her hair. “Very well.” She marched forward and lined her feet up carefully in the packed dirt, breathing in deeply before summoning her fire and going through the motions of her fire bending form.

~ ~ ~

The next day, Azula stood on the steps of the palace, facing the large, barren courtyard. It wasn’t the same courtyard she used to practice in; this one was enormous, surrounded by the palace walls, but open to the sky. Despite its design, which made it perfect for an Agni Kai, it was usually used for addressing the public. She had crouched right where she was standing now on her grandfather’s funeral, excited for the change that was coming, even as she forced her mother out of her mind.

All the way across the vast courtyard, she saw her friends, Mai and Ty Lee, approaching, their parents trailing behind them. It had been almost a year and a half since she’d last seen her friends, and she smiled wide enough to show her teeth when they reached her on the landing.

“Hello girls!” She said, it what she hoped was a bright tone. Actually, it came off a little menacing, but Mai and Ty Lee didn’t seem disturbed. At least, not by that. Both girls had been eyeing her warily from halfway across the courtyard, and their suspicious expressions still hung on their faces.

They stood in silence for too long, but then Ty Lee broke into a wide smile and jumped forward to hug Azula. When Ty Lee’s arms wrapped around her neck, Azula realized she hadn’t hugged anyone since the last time Ty Lee visited, and she hugged her friend back tightly.

“Azula!” Ty Lee held onto Azula’s hands even as they stepped apart. “I’ve missed you! How are you?”

“Never better,” Azula replied, releasing Ty Lee’s hands to beckon her friends into the palace. They quickly bid their parents farewell, then stood on either side of Azula as they walked back in. Azula’s guard followed them loosely.

Mai noticed right away. “Who’s that?”

Azula didn’t have to turn to see who Mai was referring to. “Ah, that’s my personal guard. It’s a safety precaution, although, I assure you, I’m perfectly capable of handling myself.”

“Of course you are,” Ty Lee said, brightly. “You’re the best fire bender I’ve ever seen.”  


“Yes,” Azula agreed, simply. “And I’ve learned quite a bit since you’ve last seen me.” She didn’t stop walking as she showed her companions her pale blue flame.

“Oh wow!” Ty Lee cried. Even Mai seemed impressed, in her subdued way. “I’ve never seen a blue flame.”

“That’s because you have to be one of the best fire benders ever, with proper control and discipline, to summon one. A blue flame is much hotter than an orange one,” She explained, haughtily.

Their conversation went quiet after that, and Azula continued to lead them down hallways and around corridors. When they walked through the covered walkway near the pond, Mai finally spoke, albeit softly.

“So, how are you doing?”

“I told you, never better.” Azula replied.

Azula noticed Ty Lee and Mai exchange a worried look, and Azula dropped her easy-going demeanor immediately and entirely.

Ty Lee tried this time, “Azula, I know things have changed a lot since we were here last, we wanted to check on you.”

Azula turned to glare daggers at Mai, who barely responded, except to avert her eyes, but only for a second. So, Azula turned her glare on Ty Lee, who was looking at her shoes, blushing slightly. So, Azula thought, They’ve discussed this without me. How dare they? Don’t they know who I am?

Before Azula responded, though, Mai continued what Ty Lee had been trying to say. “Because, you know, now that Zuko-”

“Mai!” Azula scolded, “We do not discuss my brother within the palace walls so flippantly anymore.” Despite how painful it might have been for most people, Azula was able to keep her voice silky and cold, free of any strong emotion. “He has dishonored our entire nation, and now he is paying the price. I can’t imagine why you think that would upset me. Everything is as it should be. Besides, it happened eight months ago, why would I still be affected?” Azula rubbed her bangs between her fingers. 

Mai asked, so quietly Azula had to strain to hear, “Azula, what happened?”

Azula straightened, and whirled on Mai, “I just told you my brother shamed our entire nation, why do you need to know more?”

Mai just pursed her lips slightly, refusing to back down, and Ty Lee stood by her side, just as firm, although she had a comically obvious expression of worry. Azula wished Ty Lee’s expression revealed fear for what Azula was going to do to her, but it was clearly concern on Azula’s behalf. Which was ridiculous, was wasn't like she and Zuko had ever been close, anyway.

Maybe she couldn’t convince her friends she didn’t care about Zuko, at least not right away, but given time, she could show them that she was better off now. That she didn’t need her older brother, and she never did. She didn’t know why they needed convincing; after all, Zuko had always been weaker, slower, stupider and more flawed than Azula ever had been. What could she possibly need him for?

Azula sniffed and relaxed slightly, taking care to keep her posture perfect and her voice was regal. “And just so you know, you didn’t follow proper procedure when you came in here today.” Azula examined her nails for a moment, examining her cuticles for any sign of rebellion. 

“Procedure?” Ty Lee asked.

“Don’t interrupt, Ty Lee!” Azula snapped. Ty Lee closed her mouth and her eyes turned misty. Oh, please, Azula scoffed internally.

“Yes, procedure. In the past, I have been rather soft with you, but, as you say, things are different now. I believe you need a reminder than I am the princess of the Fire Nation, the greatest nation on Earth. Therefore, you must treat me with the respect I deserve. You should bow before greeting me, and you should always refer to me by my title, Princess Azula, or Your Highness.”

Both girls were dumbstruck for a moment, staring at Azula like she had grown the trunk of an elephant-rat. Azula stayed quiet and returned to examining her nails, waiting for their replies. Out of her peripheral vision, she saw Mai give Ty Lee and firm, loaded glance, then she bowed to Azula. Azula gave the top of Mai’s head a cold smile.

“Now Mai, declare your loyalty to me,” Azula demanded.  


Mai didn’t pause this time. She stayed in her bent position and said crisply, “I declare my loyalty to you, Princess Azula.”

“You may rise.” Azula replied, and Mai got to her feet, refusing to meet Azula’s eyes. 

Azula returned to her nails.

Ty Lee knew she was waiting for her, and eventually she said, “I pledge my loyalty to you, too. Of course I do.”

“Use my title, Ty Lee.”

Ty Lee blinked back at her, mouth slightly agape. “But- but we’re your friends, we’re not-”

“Ty Lee!”

Ty Lee’s sweet grey eyes narrowed and she fixed her gaze on the stones beneath their feet, stubbornly keeping her mouth shut.

Azula glanced up from her nails and frowned. “Very well,” She hopped over the fence separating them from the gardens. Mai and Ty Lee took a moment to follow her, but then Ty Lee did a handstand on top of the fence and landed beside Azula, followed promptly by Mai, who jumped as nimbly as Azula had.

Azula pursed his lips, listening to her friends’ footfalls behind her as they meekly followed. Ty Lee was being stubborn, but Azula knew she only needed to nudge her once or twice more, and she would surely cave. Ty Lee may have been more dangerous than she looked, but at her heart, she was still just a bubbly softie, and Azula’s will was stronger.

“Even though asking about little Zuzu was way out of line, I think I’d better tell you exactly what happened. It’s important knowledge for you to have, as my companions. C’mon, we’ll walk the garden paths.” Then, she stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Guard! You may stay here. We’ll stay in sight.” And out of earshot. Azula set off into the paths and her friends trailed behind her.

Mole-Scalp didn’t argue and took up her post next to a short, twisty tree, her eyes trained on Azula.

Azula rolled her eyes, and meandered out of earshot. As she walked, she abruptly began the story. “Eight months ago, Zuzu weaseled his way into a war meeting; I’m not sure how, since he’s incompetent, and father would never trust him with something like that, but no matter. He was there, and one of the generals started explaining his plan to distract the Earth Kingdom army, but Zuko took offense, for some reason, and then father said he had to defend his claim in an Agni Kai.”

She heard Ty Lee stifle a gasp, but Azula didn’t reprimand her for the interruption. The story would be enough to make Ty Lee squirm, she didn’t need to yell at her again. Not yet, anyway.

“But, since Zuzu has always been a bit of an idiot, he didn’t realize he would be fighting our father.”

“Why didn’t he fight the general? It was his plan.” Ty Lee asked, and Azula noticed Mai elbowing her in the ribs, followed by a soft yelp from Ty Lee. She wondered if Mai was glaring at them both, now. She probably was.

“It’s my father’s war room, and it’s his war, anyone speaking out against it is attacking him, personally.” When neither of them had a response to this, she pressed on, “Anyway, Zuzu was shocked and upset that our father wanted to fight him, so he refused to fight. Knelt right on the ground and refused outright. I was standing close enough to see that he actually started crying, I mean, what kind of a prince is he?” She considered her words. “Not much of one now, surely. It really was for the best that he was banished. Anyways, Father taught him a little respect with some fire, and now he’s sailing all over the Earth Kingdom, searching for the Avatar.” Azula’s voice dripped with scorn on the word. “Father told him he can come home with honor if he succeeds, and I’m sure Zuzu’s too thick-skulled to realize it’s just a wild herring-goose chase.” Azula punctuated the end of her sentence with a well practiced laugh. 

Mai and Ty Lee remained silent, so Azula glanced over her shoulder to check on them. Mai’s face was stony and blank as usual, but her complexion had lost what little color it had. Ty Lee was staring at Azula, openly horrified and wringing her hands. Neither of them had stopped walking, and neither of them spoke, so Azula turned away again with a shrug.

“Just thought you should know the true story. If you’re going to be working with me now.”

There was a moment of silence. “Working with you?” Mai asked, her voice void of emotion, besides perhaps for a hint of curiosity. Though, that may have been artificial.

“Yes,” Azula said, “You pledged your loyalty to me. We should start training together right away. I’m sure Father will eventually want to include me in the war efforts very soon. He’s already started inviting me to war meetings,” She added pridefully, remembering how Zuko had to force his way into a meeting when he was a whole year older than she was now. And even then, it hadn’t ended well for him.

“And I want you two to be right there with me.” Azula spun around and planted her feet, forcing Mai and Ty Lee to stop too. Behind her two friends, Azula could see her guard standing at attention next to the twisted apple tree. Just beyond her was the turtle duck pond that Zuko was so fond of. In normal circumstances, she wouldn’t have remembered that he brother liked the little pond so much, but the sight of the boy standing right next to it was enough to jog her memory. Zuko’s arms were crossed and he was glaring right at Azula, his scowl just as sour even with the open wound marring half of his face. Actually, the injury might have made his scowl just slightly more formidable. He didn’t say a word, but Azula could tell he was angry at her for telling his story so irreverently. She tried not to care; after all, Zuzu had brought that fate on himself for doing several stupid, weak things so publicly.

“We’d love to help you,” Mai’s reply reached Azula as if she were very far away. “It actually sounds like a nice change of pace.”

“Yeah!” Ty Lee said, back to being a ball of sunshine. “Anything to help the princess.”

It sounded like Ty Lee had bent to Azula’s will of using her title, but Azula knew better. She had avoided speaking to her directly, and Azula knew the adorably pink-clad adolescent was still loathe to calling Azula, “Your highness”. Ah well. That would change by tonight.

Azula smiled, and led the two girls back inside.

~ ~ ~

That evening, Azula walked Mai to her room while Ty Lee chattered endlessly about the advanced biology classes she was taking. Azula didn’t find the material particularly interesting, but combined with Ty Lee’s fascination with auras and qi, along with her acrobatic proficiency, it could be useful knowledge. Normally, expertise in biology was for healers, but Azula was already coming up with a way to use it to fight. 

Once they reached Mai’s room, they bid each other goodnight, and Azula started walking back to her quarters.

She didn’t bother telling Ty Lee where she was headed, and Ty Lee followed, content, apparently assuming Azula was bringing her to another guest room.

However, as they walked farther and farther away from the wing Mai was staying in, Ty Lee’s fear visibly mounted. She kept rambling on about healthy auras, and how that connects to your chakras, chi and brain activity, but Azula could see the wariness in her eyes. Even if she didn’t know exactly what Azula was up to, she was aware that their friendship was a complicated game of pai sho, and they both knew Azula was several moves ahead.

Finally, when they were mere steps away from Azula’s chambers, Ty Lee stopped walking and asked, trying to keep her tone light and unassuming, “Why are we at your chambers, Azula?”

Finally. Ty Lee had slipped up. 

“Ty Lee,” Azula began, pleased under her guise of irritation. Ty Lee had done exactly what she wanted her to. “Why don’t you use my title? What is so hard about tacking a ‘Princess’ in front of my name? I’ve let this disrespect go on long enough. Apologize.”

Ty Lee bit her lip. The two of them were standing in a dark corridor, alone besides the lone guard, which wasn’t a concern. Mole-Scalp strictly answered to Azula, so she wouldn’t interfere. Azula watched the cogs turn in Ty Lee’s head, realizing how well Azula had trapped her. It had been a long time since Ty Lee had visited the palace; Azula doubted she would be able to find her way back to her room alone, and after hearing what happened to Zuko, she probably wouldn’t want to risk trying.

Still, Ty Lee thought she could reason with her old friend. “Just, listen for a minute,” Ty Lee implored, and Azula popped one hip, looking down her nose at Ty Lee. “Mai and I, we’re your friends, and you don’t have to coerce us into caring about you. I know things have changed a lot since we last saw you, but our friendship doesn’t have to.”

Azula didn’t answer right away. Instead she waited, staring at Ty Lee, hoping she would break. Sure enough, Ty Lee broke eye contact first. Success. “Our friendship is not the most important piece of our relationship anymore. First and foremost, the three of us are partners. We work together, now.” She waited. Ty Lee visibly struggled with Azula’s words, biting her lip and avoiding eye contact. Azula sighed, “Very well. If you won’t apologize, we have nothing more to gain from this conversation.” She turned her back on the other girl. “I’ll see you in the morning.” With that, she started towards her quarters.

“Wait,” Ty Lee said, her voice small, “I don’t know where my room is.”

Without turning around, Azula replied, “It’s three doors down from Mai’s. You can’t miss it.”

“I- I don’t think I’ll be able to find it," She stammered, "It’s so dark, and Mai's room is so far away.” 

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Azula replied with a bored sigh, even as the conversation thrilled her. She had planned every word out beforehand and it was going so well; Ty Lee had been easily tricked, and now Azula had her in the palm of her hand. It was invigorating. Now, all Azula had to do was wait.

“Wait!” Ty Lee cried, more urgently this time. “Wait.” Azula’s hand rested on the doorknob, and turned an eye over her shoulder.

Shaking, Ty Lee dropped to her knees. She planted her hands on the ground. She stared at the floor, but then squeezed her eyes shut against the cool, marble flooring. “I’m sorry for disrespecting you. It won’t happen again.”

“‘It won’t happen again’, what?” Azula demanded, still without letting go of the doorknob of the heavy metal door.

Ty Lee squeezed her eyes shut, fighting back angry tears. “Your Highness. Princess Azula.”

Azula slowly turned around. She examined her nails and glanced at Ty Lee’s shivering form. Beating her sent a lovely thrill down Azula’s spine. “You know what’s next.”

Ty Lee kept her eyes shut, feeling the last of her dignity drip away. “I pledge my allegiance to you, Princess Azula.” It was the final nail in her coffin, and the hammer fell with resounding damnation.

Azula’s lips curled into a smile. She let the silence hang in the air for just a moment too long, then quickly walked up to Ty Lee, who noticeably stiffened. The princess reveled in that moment of pure fear she had created, then walked right past Ty Lee. “Alright, let’s head back to your room. You’ll love it, I had pink covers put on the bed.” She glanced over her shoulder to find that Ty Lee had not moved from her kneeling position on the ground. However, that wasn't the only thing she noticed.

Her mother was standing right beside the young, bubbly acrobat. She was giving Azula her disappointed frown, but then she turned to water Ty Lee, sympathetically. Azula felt her ears begin to burn with shame. But not just shame, anger. How dare her mother care more about Azula’s friend than Azula herself. Shouldn’t her own mother be on her side?

Azula pettily ignored her mother, and laughed airily.

“Oh, Ty Lee, you may rise,” She said, turning away without waiting to see if Ty Lee obeyed, wanting to get the image of her mother out of sight immediately.

“Will we be starting our training tomorrow, Princess Azula?” Ty Lee trotted alongside the straight-backed princess.

“Oh yes, the sooner the better. We’ll have to utilize your knowledge of biology and your acrobatics, Ty Lee. I have the perfect thing for you. Then, of course, Mai already has her throwing knives. We’ll make a great team.”

She knew Ty Lee wouldn’t precisely know what she was talking about, but her dear friend smiled sweetly, nodding along as Azula spoke. Yes, it would be easy to manipulate two of her oldest companions, and Azula was going to do it for the sake of the Fire Nation, no matter what her dead mother had to say about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING. Herring-goose? That's a weird combination...
> 
> Ursa hallucinations have begun. Gang's all here.
> 
> Before I fully made this fic from Azula's pov, this chapter poked into Mai and Ty Lee's heads as well. Which was... interesting. I wish I could have kept it in, honestly, but it just didn't fit.


	3. Fear Is the Only Reliable Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternative Chapter Title: Relationships Are Purely Transactional in This Dysfunctional Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The hallucinations and disordered thinking continues.

After that, the three girls worked tirelessly to perfect their techniques. Azula was insistent that they perform at their highest potential, and they slowly became an unstoppable force.

Ty Lee picked up chi-blocking easily, just as Azula had suspected. It came naturally to her. Azula was worried she would be resistant at first, since she was forcing the fighting style onto her, but Ty Lee seemed happy to pick it up. Azula had given her the vague description, but Ty Lee had to make it work, and she had taken the idea and ran with it. It combined her interest in anatomy with her gymnastics skills, so well, and she clearly adored the fighting style. Still, Azula was surprised how little she had to help; Ty Lee was a lot smarter than she would have pegged her for.

Mai had started throwing knives long before Azula made her part of her team. She had started with kitchen knives, practicing without her parents’ awareness, before buying her own set of shuriken. She hadn’t told Azula about her hobby, per se, but the princess had her ways of finding thing out. She bought Mai a new set of throwing stars, the metal so pure it was black, and Mai quickly attached them all over her body: tucked into her sleeves, slipped deep in her boots, hidden in her hair, ready to be whipped out and thrown at people. And she was amazing at it. Already, she could hit her target dead-on, every time.

It was impressive how easily the non-bending teenagers picked up their fighting styles under Azula’s direction. It was as though they were born to chi-block and throw knives, just like Azula was born to fire bend. All her life, Azula had been taught that benders were superior to those not blessed with the power of fire. She supposed that that was still true, but she was learning that non-benders could certainly be more useful in a fight than anyone gave them credit for.

As she watched Ty Lee flip and jab while Mai threw her knives, fighting the same group of straw dummies and never getting in the other’s way, cooperating perfectly, Azula applauded herself for bringing them together like this. They had only been practicing for three weeks, and she knew the three of them would soon be able to take down a platoon of Earth Kingdom soldiers on their own. Their history as friends would make them invaluable allies, and a well-oiled machine. She wasn’t sure what she would need the two fighters for yet, but it was only a matter of time.

Aiming carefully, she waited for Ty Lee to flip out of the way, then shot a stream of her electric blue fire at a dummy. The flame burned yellow as it caught the straw, and the girls both stopped fighting.

She stalked over to join them, watching the smoke curling off of the dummy’s head. As she approached, Mai eyed her warily, and a moment later, Ty Lee turned towards her, too.

“Girls,” She addressed them as she would a group of students. “Why have you stopped?”

“You set him on fire, princess,” Mai supplied, blandly, “He’s beaten.”

“Yeah,” Ty Lee said with a small giggle, “You scorched him.” Mai gave her a sharp side-eye, which Ty Lee either didn’t notice, or ignored completely, because she just kept on grinning.

“Yes, _that_ man is dead. There are still seven others. Take them out.” Azula raised her chin. “In battle, you can’t freeze up when one man falls, whether they’re the enemy or one of your own. This is good practice.”

“You’ve never even seen battle, Princess Azula,” Ty Lee reminded her.

“Oh?” Azula cocked an eyebrow. “Ladies, I remind you that life itself is a battle. We have to plan our movements very carefully, like planing a strategy for war. When other people go down, we keep fighting.” She flicked her fingers towards the remaining dummies and turned around, a clear order.

In unison, Mai sent a knife flying through the heart of one unsuspecting straw man, and Ty Lee kicked the head right off another.

~ ~ ~

Despite her cold, outward appearance, inwardly, she was buzzing with excitement. She knew she was smart, but things were lining up so nicely. She had known Mai and Ty Lee for years, so of course they would follow her; they even trusted her, which wasn’t something she could say for most people. She could use that trust to her advantage, because by the end of the season, she intended to have a team that would follow her to the ends of the Earth. At this thought, a warm, pleasant feeling unfurled in her chest. The young princess breathed in deeply, fueling her inner flame with the oxygen in her lungs.

The girls were eating dinner together in the dining hall, the three of them huddled on one end of an absurdly long table. Azula appropriately placed herself at the head with Mai and Ty Lee kneeling side by side on cushions to her right. Soon, tomorrow afternoon in fact, they would be leaving to stay with their families again. Even though they all still lived in the Caldera, but Azula dreaded their departure. At first, she wasn’t sure why. After all, this was the longest they had been allowed to stay at the palace. Logically, she should need a break from their company about now. Perhaps it was because the gap without seeing them just before this was the longest it had ever been. Of course this was Zuko’s fault. Somehow, he was still ruining things from halfway across the world.

 _Well, no,_ she reminded herself, sternly, _Zuko doesn't have the power to ruin anything. He’s inconsequential. He always has been._

Right as the memory of Zuko flitted across her mind, she saw a flash of red off to her left. Stiffening, her eyes darted to inspect the red blur in her peripheral vision. Sure enough, it the red of Zuko’s robes and the angry red that now marred the left side of his face. Had it gotten bigger since the last time she saw him? And why did his skin _look_ like that: it was almost brown in places, and it was peeling away from his ear and on his eyelid. Could skin melt? Is that what happened? Did some of his skin _melt_ off? For a firebender, Azula knew astonishingly little about the biological component of burns. Her tutors hadn't taught her that along with the katas, forms and proper defense, because that was for healers to worry about, not fighters like Azula. Although, Ty Lee probably knew a few things, since she was suddenly so interested in biology.

Ty Lee. And Mai. They were right there, eating dinner with her. Right.

Azula deliberately looked away from her brother and tried to get her thoughts back on track.

Where was she? Oh right, anyhow, she supposed their improvements might slow when they weren’t together all the time, like they had been lately. With Mai and Ty Lee moving out, they couldn’t be as efficient. No matter, Azula would just insist they come over as much as possible to train. It was only practical. Azula herself would be fine if the other girls didn’t come for a day, but _they_ needed _her_. She kept them on track, and helped them become more powerful. Without Azula, they would have no direction and no purpose.

“Girls,” Azula broke the silence, “In order for us to continue improving as a team, you’ll have to come over every day, from now on.”

Mai and Ty Lee nodded in agreement without hesitation. Ty Lee, who was sitting in between them, turned back and forth between Mai and Azula to speak, “Of course we’ll come by. It’s important for us to keep working. Besides, if we were to go months without seeing each other again, I’d go nuts!” Her hands fluttered around her head like birds as she spoke, and at the end of her sentence, one of them dropped onto Mai’s shoulder, gripping it tightly before falling away. Azula did not squirm as she watched them easily exchanged touches, but she wanted to.

Mai cut in, “Yes. Um,” She paused, barely perceptible, but a pause nonetheless. “We’re honored to be learning how to fight.”

Ty Lee smiled at Mai as she spoke, then turned back to Azula. Finally. She felt her shoulders relax, though they probably still appeared rather rigid. Ty Lee said, “Honored. But, if you don't mind my asking, why are we learning how to fight? I don’t think either of us will ever have a reason to leave the Fire Nation, probably not even the Caldera. The war isn’t _here_.”

Azula had been expecting this question, and had been patiently waiting for one of them to ask it. She had figured it would be Ty Lee, who was curious and liked to have purpose. Proud of herself for anticipating this correctly, Azula adjusted her position on her cushion and lifted her chin loftily. Her practiced reply was: “We don’t have reason to leave the Fire Nation yet. I promise you, my father will use my skills in this war soon, and I want to have two of the best fighters in the Fire Nation by my side. Two girls who I can trust with anything.” The three girls carefully, methodically, exchanged glances, their eyes making contact in pairs.

“The best fighters?” Mai picked up on the exact phrase Azula was hoping they would. “We’re twelve, and neither of us can bend. Why don’t you hire some fire bending masters, or something? You’re the princess, I’m sure you could.” Good. Mai was now involved enough to ask questions of her own.

Azula kept her answer short, leaving room for speculation. “I would rather have you two. Besides, we can get some powerful fire benders as well if it comes to it. But, I’m sure it won’t.”

“What would we do?” Ty Lee inquired, almost cautiously. Azula lifted one eyebrow, a trick she had been practicing in the mirror, and intimidatingly stared Ty Lee down. “We’ll have to wait and see. Patience is very important.”

Ty Lee and Mai stared back at her resolutely. They had hung on her every word, which was absolutely delightful.

Despite her best efforts, her eyes twitched off the left, and once again they fell upon Zuko, who was somehow _still_ standing there. He was holding that stupid Earth Kingdom knife Uncle had given him. She knew the blade read: “Never give up without a fight”, which was ironic, because Uncle had pillaged it from an Earth Kingdom general who had _surrendered_. That rather took the meaning out of the inscription entirely, making the knife rather useless, in Azula’s opinion. Her brother was standing in the shadows, his face all mottled and bloody, fiddling with a meaningless knife. Fiddling. Princes shouldn’t _fiddle,_ all of their actions should be intentional. Even this strange, insubstantial version of Zuko was an embarrassment.

“Azula, what’s wrong? What are you looking at?” Ty Lee’s words broke the spell and Azula snapped her gaze away from the phantom. She felt the crease between her eyebrows and the scowl on her lips, which had apparently developing while watching Zuko, and she quickly smoothed them out.

“Oh, just thinking.” Spoken aloud, it sounded dumb. She mentally berated herself and tried again, changing the subject. “I was thinking about the future. We’re going to make some improvements in the world, I’m sure of it.

~ ~ ~

Later that day, Azula changed into her best clothes and strode into the throne room, chin held high.

When she could feel the heat coming off the wall of fire on her cheeks, she dropped to one knee. She briefly wondered if her father would make her press her forehead to the ground in a proper bow like she had made Ty Lee do, but then her father was speaking.

"Princess Azula."

Azula paused. "Father." Azula waited for him to berate her, even if she had never been forced to call him Fire Lord Ozai before. Everything was different now, with Zuko gone. It was as if the very atmosphere of the palace had shifted, and she knew she wasn't the only one who could feel it. She forced her face to remain firm and unshakeable, even as her heart felt like it was fluttering in her chest.

"I understand you have been training with the nobles' children."

"Yes, Father." He didn't sound particularly angry, but he never _sounded_ angry. His fire would flare up, or his face would contort, but his anger never came through in his tone.

He took a moment to take in the silence. "You may stand, daughter."

Azula got to her feet, careful not to get up too quickly, lest she appear too eager.

Her father, the Fire Lord, continued, "It is very prudent of you to brush up on your skills on your own time and encourage others to join you. I hope you trust these girls? Are their skills promising?"

Azula nodded. "Yes, Father. They're improving quickly under my instruction."

"Excellent." There was a long pause. Even standing, Azula could not make out her father's face from the other side of the wall of yellow, rippling fire. Over the top of the dancing flames she could just make out his crown sitting in his top knot, but even that was obscured by the heat, making the air shimmer. He finally spoke again, "I assume this means you are hoping to take an active role in the war already, am I correct?"

Azula wasn't sure what answer he wanted, so she had to go with the truth. Or perhaps, a watered down version of it. "If you are willing, I would be honored to join the war effort in whatever way you wish."

The coming off of the fire was starting to get uncomfortable, but Azula didn't waver. Her father answered, "There is a war meeting tomorrow, I believe you have the maturity and focus necessary to attend. Someone will fetch you at the appropriate time. I would like you to sit by my side."

Azula's chest swelled with pride. She tried to maintain her composure, but a wide smile involuntarily broke out on her face. "That would be perfect. Thank you, Father." She placed her fist at the heel of her hand and bowed deeply.

When she was still bent over, grinning wildly, Fire Lord Ozai added, "I am proud of you, Azula."

Even though she thought her heart would burst out of her chest, Azula settled her smile into a close-lipped one, and straightened. "Thank you, Father."

"You are dismissed."

That was it, then. Azula began to walk out of the throne room, passing the enormous pillars on either side of her. When she was only a few paces away from the exit, however, she turned around and called out, "Will I see you tonight at dinner?"

"Perhaps. If not then, I'll see you tomorrow, at the war meeting." The Fire Lord's voice echoed around the cavernous room.

Azula nodded, and turned to leave, but as she did so she caught sight of Zuko leaning against a pillar, and her breath caught in her chest. For half a second, the two of them made eye contact, and she felt as though her brother was staring straight into her soul.

He spoke, reminding her "We're not so different, really. As soon as you're no longer of use to him he'll let you go, too."

Too shaken to reply, Azula threw the curtain to the exit aside and rushed down the hallway, not caring that her speed was undignified.

It wasn't until several minutes later, when she was in an entirely different wing, that she was able to formulate a response. Checking to make sure she was alone, she muttered, "We are very different. You're a clueless screw-up, but I will _always_ be useful to our father."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Azula: getting high on the bare minimum of recognition and assuming it's parental love.
> 
> Comments have actually been imbuing me with life… so thanks for writing ‘em <3


	4. All This Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Chapter Title: I Borrow a Lot of Dialogue From the Show, Then Surround It With Azula’s Inner Monologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhhhh sorry this is a day late, but enjoy :)

“Do the tides command this ship?” Azula repeated, sharply. Honestly, how grown up people as stupid as this man became captains, she would never know. He barely had survival instincts around her, the princess of the Fire Nation. She could have him killed or banished with the twitch of a finger. Maybe she would. She had full authority on this ship, if he questioned her authority again she certainly _would_ throw him overboard.

The captain responded meekly, “No, princess.” He still sounded confused.

 _Imbecile_. Still, Azula was patient, she would explain it to him so that he would be able to comprehend her words through his thick skull. “And if I were to have you thrown overboard, would the tides think twice about smashing you against the rocky shore?”

The captain finally had the sense to sound worried. “No, princess.”

Azula ran her fingers through her bangs, tossing it out of her field of vision. “Well then, maybe you should worry less about the tides who have already made up their mind about killing you, and worry more about me, who's still mulling it over.” She turned around to make sure the captain saw the malice in her gaze.

Fear shone in his eyes. He hastily broke eye contact and dropped into a shallow bow as he said, “I’ll pull us in.”

Took him long enough to get the hint.

With a sigh, Azula peered over the choppy water surrounding her metal vessel. It was top of the line and brand new, surely it would make it to shore without any issues. Besides, luck tended to be on Azula’s side. It didn’t hurt that her father supplied her only with the best equipment, especially for a mission as important as this one. Not that Zuko was important, but leaving him out here to flounder and fail would be too much of an embarrassed, disowned son or not.

She refused to turn away from the water. She knew who would be waiting for her on the docks if she turned around. However, she had to prepare to meet her brother in under an hour anyways, so a practice session couldn’t hurt.

Drawing herself up, she turned on her heel to face the deck. However, as she was turning, she saw Zuko standing right next to her, leaning over the rail. She gasped and took a few steps back before composing herself. There was Zuko, frozen at thirteen years old, half of his hair burned off, the rest of it blowing in the sea breeze. The image would have been tranquil if it weren’t for the grotesque burn, though Zuko himself was unperturbed. In a way, she too had gotten used to the charred, raw skin of her brother’s face, but it was still mildly jarring. She felt the discomfort settle like a stone in her stomach.

After a quick glance around the deck to make sure they were alone, she leaned into his ear and hissed, “What do you want? I’m going to see you in forty-five minutes, can’t you wait?” She was whispering into the burnt flesh of his left ear, the shell of it mashed up and shrunken.

He turned to look at her, so that she could see the unscathed side of his face, which was no relief. His entire presence was alarming, not just his perpetually fresh wound. If anything, the smooth side of his face just reminded Azula of the boy who was actually once her brother.

Zuko just shrugged in response. He didn’t talk much, which was so unlike the Zuko she used to know, who would always rise to her bait and argue if prodded.

Azula lifted a hand to her hair, rubbing the ends of her bangs between her fingertips as she thought. This mission had been a surprise. Yes, it was true that the avatar returned, so Zuko suddenly had more of a purpose than he used to, when the avatar was dead or deep in hiding. He had messed up at the North Pole, but Zuko had always been a screw up. Surely he and Uncle could continue meandering all over the Earth Kingdom, scaring peasants and staying far away from the homeland. Azula’s father had told her that they needed to be locked up to spare him from embarrassment, but it didn’t make sense. Zuko had been declared an outcast, he was the infamous banished prince, his foolhardy actions hardly affected the nation he had not stepped foot in for three years. Still, questioning her father’s motives were hardly a good use of her time, so she did her best to direct her thoughts onto the task at hand.

Which she wasn’t able to focus on on the deck with ex-prince Zuzu. Hm. She had nearly forgotten about that nickname. Maybe she’d use it today, she had kind of missed riling her brother up.

With that in mind, the fourteen year old princess climbed below decks to wait for them to make it to shore.

~ ~ ~

The scar was the most welcome sight of Azula’s life. It wasn’t pretty, but it went well with the scowl that had yet to leave her brother’s face since she had arrived. He was taller now, not by much, but she still noticed. He had also shaved most of his head, just his ponytail behind. She supposed he wouldn’t have left it half burned off like that, but shaving the skin around the scar, even after it had healed, must have been difficult, Azula wouldn’t have thought that Zuko had the discipline. Although, letting it grow back unevenly would be no good either, and it’s not like he could cut it all off. Well, he could, since he was banished, but he did seem to be holding onto the notion that maybe one day he would get to come home.

Why was she thinking about that? She didn’t care about his hair, of all things. Actually, she didn’t care about him at all, which was why this mission was going to be a cinch.

When she told Zuko the lie about their father, the importance of family and whatever else, the scowl that had been sitting comfortably on his face fell away, leaving only a crease between his eyebrows. Slowly, he turned away from her and looked at the table under his palms. It was more like the quiet version of Zuko who had been following her around for the past few years, and not at all like the brash thirteen year old she remembered.

She wanted the brash thirteen year old back. “Did you hear me? You should be happy. Excited. Grateful.” The sharpness in her tone was just a bit too much, and she tried to pull back. He needed to trust her. Zuko needed to want to come with her. She softened her voice. “I just gave you great news.”

When Zuko still did not deign to answer, her uncle spoke, even though Azula had not been speaking to him. “I’m sure your brother simply needs a moment.” These years away from court had clearly dulled his manners, that is, if he even had them in the first place.

“Don’t interrupt, Uncle!” Azula let the fire heat her tone again. She rounded on Zuko, “I still haven't heard my thank you. I'm not a messenger. I didn't have to come all this way.”

Finally, Zuko spoke, his words coming from deep in his subconscious, as though he was barely aware he was saying them aloud. “Father regrets? He… wants me back?”

Well, she wasn’t going to get anywhere with him now. “I can see you need time to take this in. I’ll come to call on you tomorrow. Good evening.” And with that, she turned on her heel and left the pavilion. She supposed she could use a moment to take in what had just happened, as well.

Her brother was different now. Zuko had certainly been generally cranky and prickly in the years between their mother’s death and Zuko’s banishment, but now he had reached a new level. When she had first walked up to him, before she even spoke, Zuko had been glaring at her, Uncle Iroh, and every inanimate object in the vicinity. She supposed that was what banishment did to you; she didn’t know why seeing him like this had surprised her so. What was she expecting?

As she climbed the ramp to get onto the deck of the ship, she saw that Zuko was already there, standing next to the bowing captain. He looked older than he had this morning, and he even had that funny phoenix tail now. Overall, he looked much more like the sixteen-year-old Zuko she had met in the massage parlor. However, the wound on his face still had not scarred over. Why? She knew what his scar looked like now, why hadn’t it healed on this Zuko as well?

Determined to ignore him, she walked right past the captain and marched down below deck, looking for her mentors. It was time to practice some lightning bending, and this was the perfect place for it, what with the somewhat open water and the high cliffs on three sides. She had already practiced today, before meeting with her brother and uncle, but it never hurt to brush up on your skills.

She took a deep breath, and started to move through the motions of creating lightning.

“Not what you were expecting?” The other Zuko said from behind her. She lost control of the energy she was separating, and her bangs floated upward with static electricity.

Using her forefinger and thumb, she smoothed them back down. “What do you mean?” She snapped.

“I’m not what you were expecting.”

Azula did her best to get back into the familiar motions of producing her lightning. “You were exactly what I was expecting. Short temper. Relying on Uncle. Easy to trick. Weak.”

“Things are different now, though. I’ve changed a lot since you’ve last seen me.”

Azula sniffed, focusing on directing the immense amount of energy dancing between her fingertips into the cliff away from her ship. When several enormous chunks of rock splashed into the gulf below, she turned around to face her brother. “So have I,” She shrugged. “Time has passed.”

“Have you changed?” He asked, arms crossed, his single eyebrow raised.

Azula felt her face heat up, and even though she knew her angry blush was hidden by her make up, she couldn’t believe she had allowed herself to be so carelessly emotive. Zuko always had that effect on her. Not the hot-headed teenager who had been banished, just this shadow version of her brother. He knew how to get to her in a way no one else did, and it made her feel like she was standing on a very fragile foundation indeed.

~ ~ ~

She didn’t come to call on Zuko and Uncle in the morning. If they were coming, then they’d come. She knew that she was going to have to bring them with her one way or another, but if they made it that easy for her, maybe it wasn’t worth bringing them home at all. How much trouble could they be causing if she could capture them with one half-assed attempt and some careful manipulation? Her father rarely overestimated Zuko, but Azula rather thought he had done it this time, just this once.

Especially when the two of them walked up onto the deck, Zuko cautiously hopeful, Uncle vaguely suspicious. She tried to use her tone to set them at ease, but she wasn’t sure if it had landed. At her mention of home, however, Zuko’s eyes softened, and she thought she saw him repeat the word quietly to himself. Well, he didn’t have to be so pitiful about it. Not that it mattered. Her captain ruined her whole plan almost immediately.

It was important that she act furious, and punish the captain later in order to maintain her reputation among her crew, but really, she was glad she’d have the chance to fight Zuko. Nothing was worth having if you didn’t have to work a little. Zuko thought she was naturally good at everything, and she was, but that didn’t mean she didn’t work hard, day and night, to achieve what she did.

Plus, she had a lot of things to say to her brother, and she was going to speak her mind.

“You lied to me!” Her brother shouted, eyes flashing. She was surprised his burned eye could still hold such rage in it, but the anger reflected in his right eye was matched by his left.

Azula smirked, “Like I’ve never done that before.”

Luckily, Zuko fought off the guards and was approaching her at a run, his little fire daggers in hand. Even when he was firebending, he still had to use knives.

Azula could admit, Zuko had improved over the past three years, but so had she. Besides, his rage was making him shaky and foolish. Assuming he wasn’t always shaky and foolish, that is.

Azula had plenty of breath to speak as she dodged Zuko’s sporadic attacks. “You know, Father blames Uncle for the loss of the North Pole.” Zuko stilled to listen to her, his chest heaving. “And he considers you a miserable failure for not finding the Avatar!” Zuko backed away, panting, his fire daggers sputtering out.

Oh, this was too easy. She couldn’t resist continuing, “Why would he want you back home, except to lock you up where you can no longer embarrass him?” The thrill of openly teasing her older brother again was enough to cause a smile to break out on her face, and since it only aggravated Zuko further, she could only be pleased with her emotional display.

As they continued their silly, unbalanced dance, Azula couldn’t resist reaching out and slashing her sharp nails against her brother’s forehead. It was so base, so belittling, so petty, that Zuko ran at her, yelling, giving Azula the perfect opportunity to grab her brother’s arm and get in his face, just to scare him.

Just then, over Zuko’s shoulder, Azula saw him. The other one. She had never seen them together before; she hadn’t even known that was possible. He was standing on the staircase, his right foot a step higher than his left. He was just looking at her, his scarred eye still inflamed and bleeding. His countenance was far from the Zuko in her grip; rather than angry, he seemed only… disappointed. Perhaps also a little uncomfortable, as he watched them fight.

She did the only logical thing. She threw her brother down the stairs, trying to hit the vision with his body.

She could have sworn she hit her target, but the frowning boy was still there, arms crossed as he glanced down the stairs, where the other Zuko already forcing himself to his feet after seemingly having fallen right through him. Which Azula knew couldn’t be possible, surely.

Azula could clearly see how unbalanced her brother at the bottom of the stairs was, and she took advantage of his weakness, ignoring the disapproving ghost. Her fore and middle fingers traced air, pulling lightning out of it, the energy crackling pleasantly in her hands.

She didn’t know where Uncle had come from, or how he had approached her without her noticing, but all of a sudden, he was grabbing her hand and stealing her lightning, shooting it into a far cliff instead of at Zuko.

Well, that was new. Redirecting lightning. She had never seen anything like that.

She didn’t have much of a chance to mull it over, however, because Uncle had taken advantage of her momentary shock to throw her overboard.

Azula sailed over the side of the boat without even hitting the low wall. She barely had a chance to register the fact that she was falling before she hit the water with a mighty splash. It had been a warm day, with spring in full bloom, but the water had retained its frigidity from winter. Narrowly avoiding gasping in shock, she wrenched her eyes open in the murky water. At first, all she could see was Zuko's hurt, disapproving squint, hovering in front of her eyes as she held her breath. But then, to her left, shafts of light were breaking through the surface, and she frantically twisted her body to kick to the surface. Her head broke through the waves and she gasped for breath, already swimming towards her ship, where a member of her crew was lowering a ladder and tossing her some rope. She kicked towards her ship, trying to put her brother's expression out of her head, turning her thoughts instead to her hair and make up, which certainly had been ruined by her fall.

Azula grabbed the rope and allowed the crew member to pull her towards the side of the boat and the ladder, which she climbed. When she got on deck, she saw that Zuko was standing at the top of the stairs, right where she had left him, arms still crossed. He was gazing towards a forest on the shore where his double and Uncle had disappeared.

So Uncle and Zuzu had escaped this time. Well, that was alright.

This was going to be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually think it’s kinda ironic that I’m writing this fic, because in *real life* I’m such a goof of a person, and I high key hate drama. So. How did I end up here?
> 
> I’m enjoying this, though. I’m enjoying the drama that I’m causing for these characters. (psh, okay, sadist)


	5. I Know What You Really Think

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Title: Time Jumps Galore

She never intended for it to happen, but once again, it had been several months since the last time she saw either Mai or Ty Lee, and even longer since the three of them had been together. Ty Lee joining the circus had been a surprise, though Azula was loathe to admit that the sweet, bubbly girl had surprised her. And then Mai’s family moved to Omashu, soon to be renamed New Ozai, per request of the Fire Lord himself. And then Azula was left in the Caldera. She had been busy, with the war revving up for its big finish, and she found herself forgetting that her companions weren’t a mere palanquin ride away, most of the time.

With her ship, it was easy enough to zip around and pick up her friends, even with Ty Lee’s initial reservations. Actual, Ty Lee’s attempt at individuality had been a joy to thwart. Letting the wild animals roam the tent and scaring them with the flaming net had been an especially nice touch.

Mai rarely put up a struggle against Azula, so it was no surprise when she practically lunged at the opportunity to join her. Plus, as Mai said, politics were boring. Azula couldn’t agree, she found the roundabout, strategic, methodical games of politics rather gripping, but if Mai needed to get away from her parents and their politics, then Azula had the perfect outlet.

~ ~ ~

“So, we’re gonna sit in a metal box for a week?” Mai drawled.

“Yay! Bonding time!” Ty Lee squealed, contorted like a pretzel at Mai’s feet.

The “metal box,” or tank, in question lurched into motion and Mai stumbled, tripping over Ty Lee and landing on her butt, blushing scarlet. She quickly pulled her feet off the contortionists’ back, mumbling an apology while Ty Lee chuckled good naturedly. 

“Yes,” Azula replied, raising at eyebrow at their antics. She had been able to remain standing. “But we’re hot on the Avatar’s trail, so hopefully it’ll be less than a week.” She turned to her maps and scrolls of data. “As we discussed earlier, clearly he passed through Gaoling about four days ago, and now they’re flying over the Earth Kingdom. I haven’t been able to figure out where they’re going, exactly, or if they’re just flying aimlessly, which is likely. They’re just a bunch of kids, after all.”

“We’re kids, too.” Ty Lee pointed out.

“Hardly,” Azula replied, without looking up. “We may be fourteen, but we’re already elite warriors. As you surely could tell in Omashu, they’re barely masters.”

“I’m fifteen,” Mai corrected.

Azula finally turned, glaring at Mai for purposely missing the point, and found that her elite warriors were sitting cross-legged on the floor, knees touching, Ty Lee giggling while Mai awkwardly picked at her pant cuff.

“Girls,” Azula huffed, “Are you even listening?”

They both suddenly met her eyes, as if they had to be reminded where they were, and who they were with.

Ty Lee sprung to her feet. “Of course. We’re far more prepared than they are, obviously.”

Mai stood up next to her. “I have to ask, Princess, why are we even chasing the Avatar? I thought your mission was just to bring your brother and uncle back home.”

“True,” Azula conceded, mildly surprised that Mai would dare question her, but allowing it because it was an opportunity to explain her thought process. “But a good strategist takes advantage of an opportunity like this. It’s important to turn in the Avatar to my father; not because he might actually defeat the Fire Nation, but because he gives people hope, and it’s our job to snuff that out. Besides, Zuko has been chasing the Avatar for three years now, so I’m sure he’s close by.”

Apparently he was even closer than Azula guessed. Behind Mai’s shoulder, she first caught sight of a grotesquely bloody scar, then the rest of the boy came into focus around it.

Ty Lee nodded appreciatively, “Oh, that’s smart! It’s a good thing you were sent on this mission, you’ve really got this tracking thing down pat.”

Mai hummed in agreement.

Then Zuko spoke, right in front of Mai and Ty Lee. “Is that really why, Azula? Or is there another reason you’ve suddenly decided you need to hunt the Avatar?” Although his words were a thinly veiled accusation, there was no malice in his tone. It sounded like he was trying to coax a scared animal out of the shadows.

“What are you insinuating?” Azula snapped, the blood rushing to her head.

Mai and Ty Lee exchanged a worried glance. “Nothing,” Ty Lee answered. “I think it’s a great idea, Your Highness.”

Azula suddenly realized she was panting lightly.

“I didn’t mean to question you, Princess,” Mai clarified, brown eyes darting between Azula and Ty Lee.

Zuko was still there. Unwaveringly, solidly there, right in front of her. Yet Mai and Ty Lee didn’t seem to have heard him. True, no one ever saw him, but he never spoke in front of others. And now she knew that it didn’t matter, because no one else could hear him. It was as though he only existed for her.

She forced herself to focus on the two girls who were both looking at her with their own brands of concern. Mai’s was more aloofly suspicious, countering Ty Lee’s open worry.

“Don’t challenge me again,” Azula ordered, flicking her eyes to the side to glare at Zuko before returning to Mai’s face, “And I’ll forget this ever happened.”

~ ~ ~

Zuko didn’t heed her warning.

It was a few days later, and Azula was sitting in her personal quadrant of the cramped tank, poring over the information she had collected about the Avatar, hoping to stumble upon the solution.

Zuko was sitting across the table from her, elbow resting on his knee, chin resting on his hand. His gaze wasn’t focused on the scrolls that littered the metallic surface, however; he was watching her face. She was doing her best to ignore him, keeping her nose buried in papers, but her patience was wearing thin. 

For a long time, he just sat with her. She didn’t know what he was waiting for, but she could feel the anticipation-induced anxiety making her nerves jump, and she certainly wasn’t absorbing anything on the pages in front of her.

She almost asked him what he wanted, just to get whatever it was over with, but she refused to stoop so low as to ask Zuko for something.

Finally, he said, “I have charts like this, too. For tracking the Avatar.”

Azula pursed her lips and did not deign to respond.

Undeterred, he soldiered on, “Maps. Lists of sightings cross-referenced to figure out what the truth is. History about the Avatar’s past lives. Did you know that Avatar Szeto once challenged all six Fire Sages to fight him at once when they tried to impose extra agricultural taxes? They didn’t end up dueling, but I think he would have won.”

Azula sniffed, “Yes, I knew that. I don’t think he could have beaten all six of them, even the Avatar isn’t that good.”

“But, it wasn’t an Agni Kai, so he could use all the elements, and he was a lava bender,” Zuko pressed.

Azula rolled her eyes, “The Avatar isn’t some limitlessly powerful being, Zuko. He’s human, he has weaknesses, he can be taken down just like everybody else, even if you weren’t able to do it.”

He didn’t appear to be hurt by her words, but he allowed the silence to sit for a moment. Azula turned back to the scroll in her hand.

“Do you think you can take him down?”

Azula bristled, “I don’t think I can, I know it.”

“Why do you even want you? Father didn’t even ask you to capture that Avatar, that’s my burden.”

“Well, Zuko,” Azula threw down her scroll. “You haven’t exactly been successful, have you? You’ve been screwing this up, like you screw everything up, and I’m here to fix your mistakes, alright?”

“You don’t have to do that, Azula,” Zuko leaned over the low table. “They’re my mistakes.

“Yes I do! Whenever you fail at something, I have to get in there and do it for you!” She jabbed a finger at him, her nail filed to a point.

“Why?”

Her hands were not quite steaming, but they felt too hot when she bunched them into fists. “Father needs someone to do it! And I can! And Father needs to know that I can!”

“Why?” He asked again, still aggravatingly calm.

Azula jumped to her feet and leaned down to sneer, “Because I am better than you, Zuko, and it’s important that Father knows that.” She straightened, and smoothed her hair back carefully, looking away from Zuko. When she glanced back, he was gone.

Well, good.

~ ~ ~

It was dusk when she saw it. 

They were sleeping under the stars tonight. Ty Lee and Mai were getting restless after sleeping in the tank for so many nights, and Azula could admit that fresh air would be pleasant. It might at least help her think more clearly.

Ty Lee was putting up the tents. Mai was supposed to be helping, and she had tried, but it turned out Mai was lousy at putting up tents, and she had done more harm than good. Laughing, Ty Lee had shooed her away and insisted she could do it on her own, after all, she did this regularly on a much larger scale when she was part of the circus.

Azula was not helping with the tent, obviously. Instead, she was looking at the sky, waiting for the stars to peak out of the darkening canvas above.

She didn’t see the stars, but she something drift down, carried by the wind. The small, white something fell almost right at Azula’s feet, catching on the grass so the wind couldn’t blow it away.

She squatted to inspect it. It appeared to be some kind of animal fur, but she wasn’t sure from what. It was almost entirely unfamiliar, if it weren’t for a quiet, suspicions nagging of recognition in the back of her mind. She ran her fingers over it; it was ridiculously soft fur. She squinted it at, hoping her mind would make the connection if it just had a little more time.

“Ugh,” Mai interrupted her thoughts. “What is this? It’s like the trees are shedding.”

Azula looked up. Indeed, more fur was floating down from the sky. 

Ty Lee jabbed a pole into the ground. “Don’t trees shed when they lose their leaves? Not in the Fire Nation, but in the colonies, some trees ‘shed’ their leaves when it gets colder.”

“Huh, I never knew that,” Mai was saying.

“Yeah! They turn colors before they fall, too. Red and orange and brown… It’s beautiful. I saw some when I was traveling with my circus.”

What kind of flying animal had fur?

“You’ll have to take me to see some of these color-changing trees someday.”

“Oh, that would be so much fun! Let’s do it.”

Oh, of course.

“Ty Lee! Pack up that tent.” Azula stormed past and ducked into the tank.

“What? But Azula, I thought we were-”

Azula stuck her upper body out of the door, clinging to the frame so she could hang out further. “The Avatar is here. We need to move.”

~ ~ ~

Azula didn’t know how they kept sensing that they were coming. The limited wind was in their favor: blowing the fur towards them to form a trail, and blowing the smoke from their tank back the way they came. True, the tank made a ruckus, but they shouldn’t be able to hear it from so far away.

Perhaps that horrible little bat-monkey could hear the ground rumbling with those comically large ears of his.

Well, someone would have to give up eventually, and it sure wasn’t going to be Azula.

As they drove in their tank, Mai and Ty Lee dozed in their chairs while Azula drove. She didn’t mind; they needed to be well rested so they could properly fight off the Water Tribe teenagers. Adrenaline was keeping Azula going at this point. They were so close. The Avatar was surely getting worn out with all of his stopping and starting. The stars were aligning, clearly. Azula felt giddy enough to be Ty Lee, but she just smiled and steered the hunk of metal.

~ ~ ~

Sure enough, the Avatar and his band of miscreants gave up eventually. Due to the sloping nature of the mountain, Azula and her girls left the tank behind, opting to use their giant basilisk lizards instead. There was a moment of stillness, and the three of them faced the four small figures on the cliff top. Four? In addition to the Avatar and his blue-clad companions, there was an even smaller person dressed in green. The Avatar’s earth bending master. Ah well, nothing they couldn’t handle.

Azula dug her heel into her basilisk lizard’s flank and shot forward.

She wasn’t even halfway up the winding rock path when they were running back to their bison, the green figure forming a wall to stop them. Azula urged her basilisk lizard to continue forward and took her hands off the reins to shoot lightning, the wall exploding with the force of her attack.

By the time the dust settled, they had taken off. Azula watched them fly off, Mai and Ty Lee pulling their basilisk lizards to a stop on either side of her.

“The sun will be rising soon,” Azula said, without taking her eyes off the horizon. “We’ll catch them then,” She turned the lizard around and urged it towards the tank.

Mai and Ty Lee followed.

Back in the tank, Azula manned the controls while Mai and Ty Lee sat behind her. They appeared to have drifted off, Mai leaning on Ty Lee’s shoulder, but she knew they could be ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Once again, there was another person in the tank, but Azula was doing her best to focus her entire being on the Avatar, and keeping her tank moving.

“Azula,” She said, softly.

That was all she ever said. “Azula.” Just her name. As if it mattered to her at all. If she really mattered to her mother, then she wouldn’t have disappeared. There would be no reason for her to go. There would have been no reason for her to get herself killed like that.

“Leave me alone,” Azula snapped, keeping her voice low to avoid disturbing her friends.

“Azula,” Her mother said again. “Why are you doing this?”

“You know, it’s funny,” Azula bit out, toggling a lever. “Zuko asked me the same thing yesterday.”

“Do you know why?”

“Yes,” Azula fiddled with her bangs. She had fixed her hair when they were back in the tank, it had come a bit loose when she blasted through the rock wall. “Father needs me to do this. We need to win the war.”

“Azula," She said gently, "no.”

By now, fury was roiling in her stomach, but she kept it down. She stayed in control of her emotions. “We do. We need to correct the savagery and messiness of the other nations. Father needs my help to do this, and I will do it.”

She didn’t look up at the woman standing at her elbow. She knew what she would find in her face: disappointment and a pitying sadness. When her mother had been alive, she had looked at her like that only once, usually it was concern or a veiled sort of fear. But once, she had looked at her daughter with this deep, visceral sadness, and that expression would forever be burned in Azula’s mind's eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I actually had to cut a chapter in half, so... the chapter ticker is going up.
> 
> Also, I completely made the fact about Avatar Szeto up, but he is a real Avatar, he was Yangchen’s predecessor. And he was a lava bender and a diplomat. Hey, I do research sometimes.


	6. Enemies and Traitors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Chapter Title: I've Been Through the Desert on a Lizard-Horse With No Name

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, starting this chapter I'm finally veering away from the canon dialogue, so get excited. I may throw in an iconic line here or there later on, (seriously, Azula has some amazing lines) but I'm going to write my own dialogue for the most part, now.  
> Wish me luck.

“Wads of wet fur. How delightful,” Mai sighed, hands tucked into her sleeves.

Ty Lee responded, but Azula had already tuned them out. She shook the wet fur off of her hands and stalked off to examine the rest of the clearing. It was odd, why should so much of the fur be floating in the wide stream?

There was quite a bit of fur littering the ground in another direction, but the pattern was different. The clumps (as she heard Ty Lee shout before jumping into Mai’s arms) were smaller and clustered closer together. She searched the skies, spinning slowly in a circle.

Three trees away from the fur trail were missing their tops, as if something very large and heavy had knocked them.

“The Avatar is trying to give us the slip. You go after the bison, stop the Water Tribe siblings and the little Earth imp. I’ll follow this trail,” Azula dictated, scanning the thin line of fur going off into the woods.

“How do you know that you’ll find the Avatar and we’ll find the others?” Ty Lee asked, innocently.

“Oh,” Azula stalked over to her basilisk lizard, who stood still as she swung her leg over it. “I can just tell.” And with a kick to the side of her lizard, she shot off into the woods.

It took the rest of day, but at least she was perfectly, blessedly alone for the whole journey. She hadn’t had this much time away from her personal specters since she met her brother again in that quaint little massage parlor on the coast. She felt like her head was clearer than it had been in weeks, despite the lack of sleep she had been getting. This was going better than could be expected.

The Avatar was placidly sitting cross-legged at the end of the trail. When Azula’s feet hit the ground, he stood wearily, using his staff to haul himself upright. He was suddenly moving more like the 112-year-old man he was supposed to be than the 12-year-old child that he was.

“Alright, you’ve caught up with me. Now, who are you and what do you want?” He called, his words simple and to the point.

Azula smirked, not at all interested in being simple. “You mean you don’t see the family resemblance?” She couldn’t help the joviality that had suddenly nestled itself in her chest, so she covered the left side of her face with her hand, and joked in a lower, raspier voice, “I must capture the Avatar to restore my honor.”

The Avatar blinked back at her. Even from this distance she could see the dark, heavy bags under his eyes. Azula hadn’t been sleeping much either, but she was much sharper than that. Certainly Zuko had given them a dramatic little speech about his honor by now.

“Go ahead,” She urged, “You can laugh. It’s funny.” Where was Ty Lee when you needed her? She always laughed at Azula’s dark humor.

“So what now?” The Avatar asked, his voice strong despite his obvious fatigue.

“Now? Now, it's over.” Azula took a step closer to him, reining in her smirk from becoming an all out grin. “You're tired, and you have no place to go. You can run, but I'll catch you.

“I'm not running.” The airbender planted his staff in front of him boldly.

Azula tilted her head, “Do you really want to fight me?” She wasn’t quite sure why she was stalling at this point. To savor the moment? To try and scare him? To wear him down?

“Yes,” Said a voice that was definitely not the Avatar.

Azula ignored him at first. The visions had left her alone all day, it was really only a matter of time before one showed up to taunt her and take jabs at her confidence. She had waited for this moment, when the Avatar was minutes away from being in her custody, and she would not let Zuko’s judgement ruin it.

But then an ostrich-horse ran across her field of vision and she had to look at the source of the voice.

Zuko, in the flesh, got to his feet after jumping off said ostrich-horse, and cast his straw hat aside.

“I really do.”

He had cut off his hair, apparently. It had begun to grow back, but it was still shamefully short, only a few inches long.

Not the spirit, then.

“How kind of you to join us, Zuzu,” She taunted, recovering quickly. She heard the Avatar snort. Ah, the nickname. “Did you ride all the way here on that feathery beast?”

“Did you ride all the way here on that gecko-horse?” He wrinkled his nose.

“No, I have one of Father’s tanks as well,” She bragged, knowing it would rile him up. He sneered at her as she continued. “And it’s not a gecko-horse, it’s a giant basilisk lizard, you idiot.”

“It’s creepy and disgusting.” He snarked, and Azula could almost hear the juvenile insult, “Just like you!” follow that statement in the high, clear voice he used to have, just a few years ago.

“It’s very fast,” She corrected. “One of the fastest animals you can ride. Certainly a lot faster than your cute Earth Kingdom pet.” She jerked her chin towards the whinnying animal, pawing at the dust in front of a dilapidated building.

“Enough,” He hissed. “I’m here for the Avatar.” He shifted into a fighting stance, one arm towards her, and the other reaching for the Avatar.

“What a coincidence!” Azula laughed, swinging her arms and positioning herself in preparation for a fight. “So am I.”

Taking his cues from the two of them, the Avatar pointed his staff straight towards Azula. Good. He knew who the real threat was.

The three of the stood in perfect stillness for a time, the only movement being Zuko’s irises flicking left and right, and the wind tousling their clothes. 

Azula shot the first blast at her brother.

Zuko made a quick, swirling shield of orange to block her blue flames, but he was pushed backwards onto his ass. The Avatar finally decided this wasn’t a fight he wanted to be a part of, and tried to take off, but Azula wasn’t going to let him get off that easily. Breathing in deeply through her nose, Azula created an enormous arc of fire to bring the Avatar back down to the ground. There would be none of this flying business, that just wasn’t fair. That was one of the reasons why Sozin took out his people in the first place; people shouldn’t have that kind of power.

By running across a low roof, Azula was at the Avatar’s side before he could get to his feet, and she sent blasts of fire at him, all of which he dodged. The Avatar was fast, even faster than her Giant Basilisks. If only they could harness his power. Maybe, once she caught him and brought him back to the Fire Nation, she could find a way to do just that.

The Avatar dashed around her, now dodging Zuko’s fire blasts as well. She supposed that was the nice thing about three-way fights; your opponents destroyed each other.

Then Zuko was yelling and he was right next to her, blasting fire right at her. She blocked him easily, but the Avatar was able to gain some distance between them during her scuffle with Zuko.

And that was the drawback of a three-way fight.

She shoved Zuko out of the way and ran after the Avatar.

A staircase and a doorway later, Azula was pressed up against the wall, her toes barely balancing on a narrow ledge while the Avatar hovered in midair.

Her eyes darted around the not-room, trying to find a way to get to the Avatar, or at least draw him out of here, but then Zuko came barreling in, crashing to the ground with a yell.

Azula followed his trajectory downward and did not wince when he hit the ground, a cloud of dust billowing around him.

When the Avatar’s eyes left her, she started shooting at him, but he was still too quick. Somehow, she ended up on the ground, standing a few feet away from Zuko, who was struggling to his feet, his wrist clearly sprained.

“Give up, Zuko,” She begged, but when out loud, it sounded more like an arrogant demand. That was probably for the best.

He glared at her and stood, wincing as he tried to flex his hand. “No.”

She growled and kicked him through the crumbling door.

She ran out after him, hopping over his prostrate body, but skidding to a halt when the Water Tribe girl attempted to splash her aggressively, and the boy almost clubbed her in the head.

Dammit, how had they gotten away from Mai and Ty Lee?

She was going to set the boy’s ponytail on fire, but in that short time, Zuko had gotten to his feet and was shooting fire at her. He was just as stupidly persistent as last time. Good to know he hadn’t learned anything.

When a burst of flame shot out of his uninjured hand, she rushed forward, clasping her hands over his fist, stopping the fire at the source. 

She smirked at his shocked, angry expression. “What’s the matter, Zuzu? Am I in your personal space?”

He just growled, lifting his leg to kick her away, but she was quicker. She wrenched her hand away and darted around him towards the Avatar, who was making his way down from a rooftop to join their scuffle. She didn’t get far, though, because the ground under her suddenly shifted, and in half an instant, her mouth was full of dry dirt. 

She yanked her face away from the ground, spitting a little, as a small voice was saying, “Figured you guys would miss me.”

“You bet.” The Water Tribe girl said, appreciatively. 

Azula growled and got to her feet. The green clad figure from earlier turned out to be a tiny girl. Not that that made her any less formidable; after all, Azula used to be a small, frightening, talented girl. That was still mostly true, though she was less small now.

The Avatar had made it over here, and was standing next to the Water Tribe siblings, an intense expression on his young face. 

With five pairs of eyes now glaring at her, Azula was considering bailing, but it was difficult to give up when both of her targets were right there. However, even she didn’t think she could take them all down if it came down to an honest fight. Not that Azula really believed in honest fights; she usually used her wit to weasel her way to victory. Though, she wasn’t exactly lacking in physical prowess, either.

She took a careful step back, trying to decide who she should attack to get out of here, but she ran straight into a sixth person.

Uncle. She should have known; Zuko didn’t go anywhere without his almost-traitorous, tea-loving life coach.

“Well, would you look at this.” She took a few steps away from him, finding herself totally surrounded. “Enemies and traitors, all working together.”

The rest of them were stone statues while Azula slowly spun on the spot, eyes darting around for an escape route.

Right behind Uncle there was an alley. And Uncle had taken his eyes off of Azula to squint at the little Earth bender.

That’ll work.

Quicker than the blink of an eye, Azula set her uncle’s shoulder on fire and bolted for the alley, forming a shield of blue fire around her as she ran. She heard Zuko yell as she swerved around a corner, but she wasn’t followed.

~ ~ ~

It was a long walk back to the tank. Her giant basilisk lizard had run off pretty early into the fight, despite the fact that it had been trained not to fear fire. She supposed it was now running free in the desert, but probably not for long. Large as they were, giant basilisk lizards weren't exactly on the top of the food chain, and it would probably get eaten by the first platypus bear that found it. She’d have to get another one.

She wasn’t walking alone, though. Zuko was walking alongside her. Blood from the festering wound on his face had tried into the shoulder of his tunic. She remembered that Zuko hadn’t been wearing a shirt the day of that fateful Agni Kai, and she couldn’t imagine why anyone would insist he put one on when his face so clearly still needed some healing. Still, she had realized this was a spirit of some kind, and she supposed the rules were different there. Why there was a Spirit Zuko when the real one still lived and breathed and caused problems, Azula had yet to figure out.

“Alright,” She snapped. “What is it now? Are you here to lecture me? Do you disapprove of the way I treated Uncle? Was it despicable how I talked to you? Tell me? What’s the problem now?” She twisted her head as she walked to glower at him, wishing her fire bending could make lightning crackle in her eyes. Not that she needed to be any more intimidating, but she thought she deserved it.

He didn’t respond, just kept his eyes trained on his feet while he walked.

Azula huffed, crossing her arms. “I can’t believe you didn’t try to follow me. It wasn’t a very tidy escape. I mean, I knew you would want to stay and help Uncle, but that was kind of stupid of you, wasn’t it? Now I’m gone, and I’m still going to find a way to bring you back to Father.”

Zuko still didn’t respond. Azula had forgotten that this Zuko was not so easily angered like the other one.

“You’re pathetic,” She spat. “Really, you are. You always think you can take me on, but you can’t! The Avatar tricked you, and you broke your wrist. I just barely burned Uncle, and you freaked out. Honestly Zuko, you need to grow a spine. This is why Father is so disappointed by you.”

He didn’t even appear to have heard her. He just kept walking right next to her, silently.

“Well? Are you going to say anything?”

He wasn’t. Azula didn’t open her mouth again for the rest of the walk.

~ ~ ~

The sky was almost black by the time she came upon the tank. Mai and Ty Lee were already there, sitting in the grass, looking a bit damp.

Azula wasted no time. “You didn’t take care of the Water Tribe kids.”

Ty Lee looked up from the grass. “We tried. Their big cow thing knocked us into the river and they flew away.”

“It’s a flying bison,” Mai mumbled.

“Don’t be a smartass, Mai,” Azula snapped. She continued in a low voice, “I gave you one task to complete, and you botched it.” She paused to let her words linger in the silence. “Could it really have been that hard?”

They didn’t respond. Ty Lee’s eyes drifted back to a patch of grass in front of her. Zuko stood next to her, his eyes trained on the same bit of grass. 

“That wasn’t a hypothetical question!” Azula cried, only dimly aware of the hysteria rising in her voice.

Mai got to her feet. “We’ll get them next time. They’re more competent than any of us were expecting.” Her eyes glinted as they connected with Azula’s.

Azula narrowed her eyes. How dare she suggest that Azula was unprepared for this? How dare she question her like this? Lately, Mai had been pushing her in all the wrong ways, and after the stressful day and the sleepless night, she wasn’t going to let it slide anymore.

“Plus, the Water Tribe boy was real cute.”

Azula slowly turned her gaze on Ty Lee, standing a few feet away, casually taking her hair out of its braid.

“What?” Azula snapped.

“The Water Tribe boy. He was cute. Maybe he distracted me, or something,” Ty Lee giggled. “I totally avoided hitting his face.” 

Azula just stared at her companion disbelievingly.

Mai had turned to look at Ty Lee when she first spoke as well, but now she had turned away, her face expressionless once again as she stared at the dust beneath their feet.

Finally, Azula just grumbled, “Luckily, I already have a new plan, so we won’t be paying for your mistake for much longer. Try to use your brains when you’re fighting, in the future.” She marched towards the tank and dragged the heavy metal door open. “And dry off your clothes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you can't tell, I HATE those giant basilisk lizards. Hate 'em. Bad. I know technically they didn't mix horses and lizards, because they're giant basilisk lizards, but YOU SHOULD NOT MIX HORSES AND LIZARDS.  
> So, it got eaten by a platypus bear, which is arguably a much better combo.  
> Also, I kept having to fight the urge to capitalize Giant Basilisk Lizard like it was some kind of title. I think I caught them all before posting, but that was a weird thing my brain wanted me to do. I don't want to respect the colossal lizards.
> 
> [Game: Spot the pop culture references.]


	7. The Avatar's Fan Girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Chapter Title: Well, Damn, Ty Lee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, I disappeared for a minute there and I'm sorry! School has been picking up, but the semester is almost over (one more week!), and my break may have been extended (??) so I should be able to catch up. However, I'm not going to adhere to the strict update-every-week thing. I think the quality of my writing will improve without the hard deadline. Don't despair, though, I'm still excited about this story :)
> 
> Also, the chapter total is a guess at this point. I have an outline, but things. Keep. Changing. So? It's an estimate.

The plan did not include Zuko nor the Avatar. In the moment, she had felt that if she never had to see either of them again, she would be content. Her current stance was a little less dramatic, but she was still committed to taking a break from chasing the two of them. Perhaps this way, they’d come to her.

Preferably, it would be another few months before she had to return to her chase, but that was more of a personal wish.

She peered through her periscope, watching her drill crank its way through the wall. Huge clouds of dust and debris billowing up from the dry ground and falling from the wall obscured much of her vision, but there didn’t seem to be anymore earth benders hammering away at the sides of the great metal machine. It was odd, considering that the Earth Kingdom was known for their grit and determination and all that.

She didn’t have the chance to let that thought coagulate, because a tinny voice was announcing through the intercom that a mechanist had been knocked out, his schematics missing. By the time she made piercing eye contact with her war minister, another voice was announcing that a brace had been cut through.

With a sigh, she got to her feet, “Let’s go, ladies.”

The war minister was squirming a little, waiting for her punishment, but he would have to wait.

She had an Avatar to capture.

~ ~ ~

Unfortunately, that’s not how it turned out. Still covered in a, now drying, layer of sludge, Azula marched around the perimeter of her ruined drill. Clearly, there would be absolutely no fixing it, and according to the war minister, the inside was just as dilapidated. Mai and Ty Lee, one of which was just as sludge-covered as her, trailed behind her quietly, examining the wreckage. Not only was this disappointing, it was humiliating. Now she shared a failure with _Uncle_ , and it took her only a day and a half to be defeated, while it had taken him three hundred.

She stopped abruptly, scuffing her toe in the dirt. But no, she wasn’t going to do the same thing as Uncle. She wasn’t giving up entirely. She would table the issue of getting past the great walls of Ba Sing Se.

“Come on, girls.” She abruptly turned around and walked right in between her companions. “We need to get our basilisk lizards back.”

“Oh,” Mai muttered, “Great.”

~ ~ ~

The animals were procured in record time, and they were on the road, zipping through the Earth Kingdom. The tank was gone, but the giant lizards were surprisingly enduring, so long as you didn’t push them to move too fast.

For the first couple of days, Ty Lee repeatedly asked what they were doing, in increasingly poorly camouflaged ways. And then, Azula would respond with increasingly flimsy excuses. Honestly, she was regrouping; trying to find away to come back to any of the three challenges she had battling. The three challenges she was currently failing at. It wasn’t as though she wasn’t resilient, she was determined to keep trying, but she didn’t think anything had been this difficult before.

She wanted to be excited by the challenges like she had been at the beginning, but it seemed she was running out of steam.

What was most disconcerting was that neither Zuko nor her mother had showed up during the drilling attempt. At first, that had boosted her confidence; it would certainly be easier to break into the Earth Kingdom’s capital without her family members hovering over her, trying to instill doubt in her mind. But when it was all over, and the Avatar and his stupid little gang had disappeared, she realized she had no excuse for this failure. This was her own fault, and no one else’s.

And so, regrouping. Not giving up, not even taking a break really, just planning.

However, after eight days of traveling across the vast Earth Kingdom, it seemed her luck had come back to her.

~ ~ ~ 

The three young women were camping out in the middle of a pine forest when it happened. It was huge; they had been among the great evergreens for almost three days now, only stopping to rest when absolutely necessary.

Azula assumed that the other girls were asleep in their tent, but she was sitting upright on her pallet. There were only two tents, but that was a new development as of last night. When they had been setting up camp, Mai had turned to Azula and said abruptly, “Something happened to the third tent,” and then stared at Azula, waiting for her to respond. 

Perhaps Mai was concerned she would be angry about the loss of the tent, but Azula had just shrugged. “I’m not sharing with you, so you’ll have to work it out with Ty Lee,” and then turned back to the stack of kindling she was arranging, deftly setting it aflame.

“Oh,” Mai replied, shoulders slumping, apparently in relief as the fight leaked out of her. “Alright, then.”

Apparently they had worked it out, because that was the last that Azula heard on the matter.

Now, it was the early hours of the morning, and Azula had yet to get a wink of sleep. Zuko was sitting cross-legged at the foot of her pallet, mirroring Azula’s position where she was perched on her pillow. He had been doing this every night since the drill, and their routine was getting tedious. They never spoke, and Azula tried to avoid eye contact, even as her stared right at her face. She didn’t know what he wanted, and she didn’t dare ask. If he tried to get her to talk about her mission to hunt him down, she thought she might explode. Normally, she would have left the tent by now to get some fresh air and practice her bending because he never left the tent. (Azula wasn’t sure how he slipped out before Ty Lee took the tents down without her noticing.) Tonight, though, she sat perfectly still and tried to meet his eyes. His eye? She still didn’t know if he could see out of the thin line of his left eye. She could see the irises moving together, but maybe his vision was blurred, or it was a reflex to move his eyes at the same time. She couldn’t imagine that his sight would have survived intact, not with the awful wound surrounding the eye that still hadn’t healed. Well, it had scarred over for one of the Zukos. But not for this one. 

The wound wasn’t even the worst part of looking at him. It was his unblinking focus. Azula supposed that he must blink, but she never caught him. Whenever he looked at her, it felt like he was _really_ looking at her; looking straight down into her soul.

She supposed that he couldn’t have been, not really. She tried to make her eyes sharpen and focus like that, but she wasn’t looking into anybody’s soul.

Her hypnotism by his bright gold eyes were interrupted by a roar that struck her to the bone. She jumped, then froze. It sounded like it had come from miles away, but it was still _loud_. She glanced at Zuko, but he didn’t seem to have heard it. 

Before she could open her mouth to mention it, another roar burst through the night’s silence. It wasn’t as loud, or at least it wasn’t as jarring, but it was the same animal. It must have been enormous to be able to make a sound like that.

“Zuko,” She hissed before there could be a third roar. “Do you hear that?”

At first, he didn’t even seem to have heard her speak, but then he squinted at her, intensifying his glare. “No,” He scowled, irritated by her question.

She huffed and got to her feet. “Sorry I asked,” She spat out as she edged around him and ducked outside. She could feel his eyes following her as she picked her way across the tiny enclosure. When the cool night air hit her face, a third roar, much louder than the first two, reverberated through the forest.

Moments later, Ty Lee was sticking her head out of the other tent’s flap, her brown hair out of its braid and falling around her eyes. “What was that?” Even though she clearly had just been jolted awake, her voice was already clear and crisp. And weirdly, almost chipper.

“Get Mai out here,” Azula said in leu of an answer.

“She’s asleep,” Ty Lee replied, but then quickly ducked back into the tent to wake her, as if it took her a moment to remember that Azula didn’t mind interrupting their sleep schedule.

Azula crossed her arms and peered between the trees. She could see the sky near the horizon lightening with soft yellows and blues. Already dawn. So, they wouldn’t be leaving much earlier than they were planning to, anyway. Not that any of them would have complained at the early hour, not even Mai, who hated mornings and was the most apt to complain. She had been keeping rather quiet the past week. Well, quieter than usual. It was almost as if she was in a _good mood_ , which, with Mai, was practically impossible.

Now though, even with her halfway pleasant attitude of the past week, she was clearly pissed off. When she stumbled out of the tent after Ty Lee, she wore only the black base of her outfit, the red sashes left inside. Her hair was a tangled mess, her bangs plastered at an unnatural angle, and she had smudges of black makeup under her eyes. They had had a difficult time finding a campsite last night, so Azula mused that she hadn’t taken the time to wash her face.

“What?” Mai grumbled, though Azula could tell she was trying really hard to keep her cool.

Azula cocked an eyebrow and pursed her lips, still stained with yesterday’s lipstick. She hadn’t even attempted to get some sleep last night, so her make up was just a bit stale, rather than smeared. 

“Didn’t you hear the obnoxiously loud roar? It shook the ground, honest to the spirits!” Ty Lee grinned, placing her hand over her heart as if she were swearing an oath.

Azula rolled her eyes, and Mai shook her head. “It couldn’t have been that loud.”

“Well, you are a pretty deep sleeper, Mai,” Ty Lee countered.

“Yesterday you said _you_ are a deep sleeper, Ty Lee,” Mai replied, though she barely sounded annoyed.

“I assure you it was plenty loud,” Azula hastily brought the conversation back on track. “I’ve never heard anything like it.” As she spoke, Azula could feel the cogs turning in her head, approaching a conclusion that she couldn’t quite see, yet.

"Well, there are probably a lot of animals in the Earth Kingdom that we don’t know about.” Ty Lee mused, tapping her cheek in thought. “Ooh! You know, I read about these enormous badger-moles that can Earth bend. I didn’t know there were Earth bending animals, I thought that the people invented the technique themselves, in school they made it sound like-”

“Thank you, Ty Lee,” Azula did her best to calm her irritation, and continued, “I don’t think badger-moles can roar, so that’s out.” She could feel the answer of what that thing was circling just out of her reach. It was important.

“Sounds like something that awful, gigantic flying cow would make,” Mai grumbled, rubbing her eye and smearing her makeup even more. “Big and loud.”

Ty Lee smirked, “So you _did_ hear- wait, Azula? What are you doing?”

Azula was jogging over to her tent, preparing to disassemble it. “You’re quite right Mai, it _did_ sound like something the Avatar’s bison would make.”

~ ~ ~

They packed up their little campsite in record time. Since Ty Lee had taught Mai how to put up and take down tents, and Azula carefully watched, the process was a lot quicker. After rousing the three giant basilisk lizards, they were on their way.

There were no more roars, so it was difficult to tell if they were headed the right way, at least at first. After about an hour of traveling in loops and zig zags, Mai found some of the familiar clumps of white and brown fur clinging to tree bark and fluttering to the ground. Following the trail was a breeze after that.

In fact, within the hour, they found the white, fluffy arrow-headed monster. Azula immediately noticed that the Avatar was nowhere in sight, but the bison wasn’t alone. Five, no, six, young women dressed in green warrior uniforms with painted faces surrounded it. They all seemed to be around Azula’s age. 

To their credit, the girls in green noticed Azula’s trio approaching before they could attack, and they leapt into action, their fans framing their faces as they crouched into battle-ready positions.

“My, aren’t you easy to find,” Azula crowed at the now-growling animal, momentarily ignoring the girls who guarded him. “Did the Avatar abandon you to get into Ba Sing Se? What a shame.”

She turned her attention to warriors, who inexplicably had not attacked yet.

A girl with thick brown hair that fell to her chin, apparently the leader, if her position at the front and center was any indication, spoke, “There’s no need to attack the bison. Like you said, the Avatar is not here.”

Azula shrugged, “Oh, that’s alright.” Behind her, she felt more than saw Ty Lee dismount the giant basilisk lizard, and heard the clink of metal as Mai prepared her shuriken. “If you’re friends of the Avatar, then you’ll make fine opponents.”

And before they had a chance to react, she shot fire right at their leader. The warriors’ golden fans transformed into shields to stop the blast, which was both unexpected and ingenious. After Azula’s first shot, Mai and Ty Lee enthusiastically joined the fray. Well, Ty Lee was enthusiastic, but if the four knives that shot out of Mai’s sleeves were any indication, she was excited to be getting in on the action, too.

Azula was locked in battle with the leader, forcing her on the defense even as she strained to aggressively get in her own blows as well. Azula pushed her closer to the bison, which was edging back behind a fallen tree. Its growling got louder and more panicked with each blast from Azula. 

She smirked. “Afraid of fire, I see.” The leader of the Earth Kingdom fan girls squinted at her, confused for a moment. But then, her eyes widened, and she glanced over her shoulder at the bison behind her. “Good,” Azula continued, “You should be,”

The girl looked back just barely in time to block a particular strong blast of blue fire, pushing her back, her heels digging into the dirt and pulling out grass. Azula shot another round of her, and this time the fire glanced off her fans and caught the branched of the fallen tree. The flames cooled, turning yellow and red as they lost their steady stream of oxygen from their bender.

The bison roared, and Azula glanced away from the girl she was fighting to check on the others. Only one other girl was still standing, and she was clutching her side where one of Mai’s knives had caught her. Ty Lee was already approaching her from behind, her fists raised and a serious expression on her round face.

When Azula looked back, the girl had both her fans folded and grasped in one hand as she swung a flaming tree branch above her head. Right at the bison.

“Mai, Ty Lee!” Azula shouted, and her comrades snapped their attention to her. “Stop the bison!” Azula snapped at the lizards, and her command, they skittered towards the bison and climbed on top of it, stopping it from taking off. Confused and frightened by the fire and the lizards, the bison just stomped his large feet. Mai pinned the girl to a tree right as Azula took a deep breath to put out the fires.

“Ty Lee!” Azula yelled, “Chi block the bison!”

Ty Lee only froze for a moment, cocking her head to squint at Azula, before turning her attention to the flying bison, trying its best to throw off the crawling lizards. Then, she leapt on top of the beast and did her best.

Azula and Mai could really only watch as Ty Lee climbed and flipped over the great furry creature, and tried to chi block it. Before this, Azula was sure Ty Lee only had experience with human beings, but she was doing well. About ten minutes in, the beast was sluggish enough that Azula called off the lizards. The warriors who were still conscious watched the spectacle with growing horror as Azula looked on with delight. The bison stumbled, struggling with the effort of staying upright. Even Mai was watching with stunned, rapt attention. Finally, Ty Lee won out and the creature fell to the side, his legs swinging weakly. With a few more jabs at his underbelly, it was fully paralyzed.

Ty Lee, who Azula had never known to lose her composure, swiped at her sweaty forehead, and swiped at the hair that had unraveled from her braid clinging to her neck, but she was smiling a little. Still, she did a handspring over the fallen tree to join Mai and Azula.

“Well, that was tricky,” She said brightly, “Not sure how long it will hold, though, we should probably tie him down or something.” She put her hands on her narrow waist. “Ah, what do you want to do, Princess?”

~ ~ ~

Five hours later, the warriors had been stripped to their undergarments and were tied together to a tree, still partially limp because Ty Lee kept re-paralyzing them. The bison was secured excessively, so that even though its chi had unblocked itself, it could not move a muscle. Azula had sent a hawk to the nearest colony, and a platoon had just showed up to assist.

“Greetings,” Azula said to their lieutenant as she approached. 

The lieutenant bowed, her hands forming the flame at her sternum. “Your highness, we are at your disposal,” She said, speaking towards Azula’s shoes. 

Azula placed her hands on her hips and waited for the lieutenant to rise. It took until the count of ten, which was an embarrassingly long time. Mai and Ty Lee glanced at each other awkwardly.

Finally, the lieutenant straightened, flushing when she saw Azula’s disapproving expression. She cleared her throat. “What do you want us to do?”

Azula jerked her chin towards the bison, “Keep that from escaping. He’s strong, and smart for an animal, so be diligent. 24 hour watch.” She pointed to the shivering warriors. “Bring them to a prison. The nearest. Send the one with the short brown hair to the Boiling Rock, she’s the leader.” The girl’s expression hardened when Azula mentioned her, and she lifted her chin in defiance. Inwardly, Azula laughed. We’ll see how long that attitude holds up after a few weeks in the toughest prison in the world. 

She turned back to the lieutenant. “Don’t try anything funny. That will be all.”

Azula turned around and walked towards their giant basilisk lizards. Mai and Ty Lee wordlessly followed her. 

As she mounted, she turned to her companions. “We’re going back to the Earth Kingdom capital.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, referring to Appa as “it” almost killed me.


	8. Suki

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here, have this mini chapter-thing for Suki

The Kyoshi Warriors had a simple code to fight honorably. One of their rules was no one gets left behind. A basic rule. A rule that was repeated so often the words were stale in your mouth as you said them.

Right now, though, that rule was anything but stale.

These guards weren’t as skilled as the princess’s trio, but there were more of them, and at least one pair of eyes were on Suki and her girls at all times. Suki had managed to untie her own bonds almost completely, but she couldn’t reach the other warriors without alerting the guards that she was free. 

She bit her lip. Tucked against her ribs, under the wrappings around her torso, was a small, sheathed knife. If she could just twist her arm up and slip it out without anyone noticing, and she could toss it to the other girls…

Chiaki, the warrior tied up nearest to her, caught Suki’s eye, and without moving her lips implored, “First chance there is, get out of here.”

Suki squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, still trying to twist her arm behind her back. “No, I’m not leaving you.”

Chiaki looked at her out of the corner of her eye and whispered, “They’re sending you somewhere else anyways.”

Suki just shook her head, her arm scratching against the rough bark of the tree.

Chiaki wasn’t done yet, and she continued firmly, just short of harsh, “One of us getting out of here is better than none.” She eyed a guard who still was only vaguely watching them. “You can come back for us later, but right now you need to warn the Avatar.”

Tears stung Suki’s eyes as she continued shaking her head, just slightly so that the guard wouldn’t turn his focus on them fully again. Sure enough, his eyes were still a bit glazed over.

“Suki,” Chiaki whispered, kindly this time, “Please. We don’t have a chance unless you just go.”

Suki sniffled, trying hard to keep her eyes dry and her vision clear. She stopped shaking her head. From where she was bound, 

A second guard called out to their watchman, and he turned away from the bound warriors.

Chiaki didn’t have to tell her to go, she knew this might be the only chance she got. She pulled away from the tree, spun around, and leapt into the branches, making as little sound as possible. Spending hours guarding the borders of her village crouched in a tree made it easy to silently ascend into the thick needles. When she was about halfway up, she glanced down at her warriors. The only girl she could see was Chiaki, who kept her head drooped, ignoring Suki’s escape. Suki touched the outline of the small knife against her ribs, but tossing it down would make a sound, alerting even their half-wit guard.

So, for the good of her warriors, she edged away from the trunk and leapt to the next tree in the dense forest.

 _“I promise I’ll be back,”_ She thought firmly, _“I will.”_

Distantly, she heard the soldiers shouting, realizing that she was gone. She sped up, clinging to branches and spinning around trunks as needles got caught in her hair.

She could hear them approaching her tree, and she came to a sudden stop, wrapping her arms around the trunk. The wind made her tree sway just a bit, and she glanced down, the huge drop hardly phasing her. The red, spiked top of a Fire Nation helmet on the other hand…

She bit her lip, silently begging the spirit of the forest, or Avatar Kyoshi, or any other spirit who would listen that the guard would not look up.

Instead, a second soldier joined the first, carrying a flame in their palm. Suki planted her forehead into the trunk, hoping the needles would hide her from sight. Hoping if the guard did look up, they would think her to be a funny looking crane beaver. Hoping that they would just move on and she could get out of her.

Somehow, miraculously, probably with Kyoshi’s aid, the two guard marched off, neither back the way they came nor the way Suki was heading. Waiting until the count of 90, she was off once again.

All she needed now were some proper clothes, and she could make it to Ba Sing Se, and get to Aang and Katara and Sokka. She hoped they really were in the city, like Azula said. She knew she couldn’t beat Azula on foot, but surely there was something she could do, if she was fast enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really liked writing Suki!! Bless her.
> 
> Side note: I found out they are actually “mongoose lizards,” and I’m not sure how I feel about that. I like mongooses, so I think it’s better? But also, it's still a funky combo.


	9. There Is No War…

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Chapter Title: Hot Girl Shit (ie: Destabilizing the Government)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello! Sort of a longish time, no update. This is a bit longer than usual, so I hope that makes up for it :)

After the disaster that was the drill, slipping into the city by wearing the Kyoshi Warrior uniforms felt astonishingly easy. Even with their limited information (they only have five hours to interrogate the girls), the infiltration went smoothly. Mai had managed to extract their group’s name, and it turned out, that once people heard the word “Kyoshi” they stopped asking questions.

They had to ride into the city on the train, but they were allowed into the upper ring, solely because of their recognizable uniforms. Well, their uniforms and Ty Lee’s bubbly charm.

Azula was hoping the city would disappoint her, after all, it was just the Earth Kingdom, but she found herself dazzled by all of it. Even the sheer volume of people astounded her. It was far more crowded than anywhere else she had ever been. Such a great density of people probably caused violence and disease to spread, but it was still   
rather staggering.

At the steps of the palace ( _also_ impressive) they were stopped for the first time. They were refused an audience with the king.

“Don’t you know who we are? We are the prestigious Kyoshi Warriors,” Azula reminded the man, who appeared to be a guard of some sort, with floor length green robes and a wide-brimmed helmet that covered his face.

“We are here to _help_ with the war effort,” Mai said, a bit coldly, but only because that was her default tone.

Ty Lee swooped in, speaking much kinder, “We only wish to serve the Earth Kingdom. We feel that the king would appreciate our services if he had the chance to-”

“We do not need assistance at this time,” The guard repeated. “Don’t make me remove you by force.”

Ty Lee pursed her lips, irritated at being cut off, but soon she was smiling again. But before she could continue, Mai said, “We are the Kyoshi _Warriors_ , we can easily fight you if you attempt to use force on us.”

Ty Lee elbowed Mai discreetly as she said, “Perhaps we don’t need to see the _king_. Who is the captain of the guard?”

“We don’t have a captain of the guard,” The guard snapped. “You must mean the head of the Dai Li agency.”

“Oh!” Ty Lee slapped her forehead with her palm. “Of course! Perhaps they will appreciate our help.”

Until then, the guard had been holding his hands behind his back, but now he brought them forward. They were covered in a sort of thick, dark glove. Azula squinted at the material, and discovered that it was not cloth. _Rock_ was what encased his hands, moving with him as though it were as pliable as the glove Azula had assumed it was. He flexed his hands threateningly, preparing to use the force he had alluded to.

“We can channel Avatar Kyoshi,” Azula said abruptly. She could feel the other two girls watching her, fighting to keep their expressions neutral, but Azula stared firmly at the guard, whose hands had stilled.

“You can- you what?” He asked, eloquently.

“We can contact Avatar Kyoshi from the Spirit World,” Azula reiterated, gaining confidence that she had found their key into the palace. “We are spiritually attached to her, since we fight in her style, and honor her. She may be able to help us to assist the current Avatar, as well.”

The guard finally lifted his head, and Azula saw his wide eyes beneath the brim of his helmet. “Ah,” He managed, “I’ll bring you to see Long Feng.”

~ ~ ~

“Well,” Long Feng muttered, bringing his fingertips together to rest on his chin, “That _is_ worth looking into.”

The pale green light emanating from a roughly hewn hunk of rock illuminated Long Feng from behind, giving him a green halo and leaving his face in relative shadow. Azula could only just make out his gaunt features. He was a tall, mustached man with a haughty, but focused, stare.

“How can _I_ be of service?” He asked in his greasy manner.

Azula stepped forward, using her sweetest voice to correct him, “You misunderstand: _we_ are at _your_ service. We wish to serve the king, and help with the war effort from the capital.”

Long Feng tutted, “I presume you’ve never been to the city. We do not speak of the war within the walls.”

Azula raised her eyebrows and waited for him to elaborate. She had attacked the city herself not even two weeks ago, how could they avoid speaking of something as omnipresent as the war?

“It allows us to maintain civility and order,” Long Feng explained coolly. “The war does not affect our lives here, so we do not speak of it. No use panicking over a distant, endless war.”

Of all the obstacles that Azula had mentally prepared herself for, this had not made the list.

“Well,” She began, “We would hate to disrupt the peace you’ve made here. But, perhaps there is still something we could assist the king with, here.”

“Perhaps,” Murmured Long Feng, his eyes boring into Azula’s face.

“Anything the Earth King needs,” Azula vowed.

Long Feng merely hummed in response. There was a long pause, and with the hunk of glowing crystal in place of a fire, there were no crackling sounds to break up the silence. She had never been to the Water Tribes, but she couldn’t imagine a more direct opposite to her father’s throne room. Between the silence, the cool stone and the Long Feng’s narrow office, she felt that she was out of her element. Literally.

Finally, the man nodded. “Very well. I should tell you what is happening here: the Avatar is currently in the city. He intends to cause havok, possibly by inciting rebellion among the common people. He intends to use the war to instigate this chaos, but I’m sure he will not hesitate to lie to the common people. I’m sure you can understand that this would be disastrous. We could use your connection to one of his past lives to reason with him, and stop him from breaking down our meticulous society.” Then, barely courteously, he added, “If you are willing.”

“We’d be honored to use our gifts to assist you,” Azula said, her tone flat. “That is awful. It’s horrible when you can’t trust your own allies.”

~ ~ ~

In the rooms the Dai Li had provided for them, the girls tried to relax. It had been a long day of traveling and convincing strangers of their Earth Kingdom heritage. Azula had enjoyed most of it, since it was full of little successes that brought them closer to the king, but the lack of sleep she had been getting recently was taking its toll. 

She leaned against a chest of drawers, trying to look calculating rather than exhausted as she took in the scene before her. There was an awful lot of green in this room. She supposed it was the Earth Kingdom, and green was kind of their thing, but she thought it was excessive. Even the lighting was green, casting the room in a sickly murk, making Azula’s head and stomach swim. Ty Lee, on the other hand, seemed unbothered as she meandered around, poking at the decor and rummaging through drawers. Mai lounged listlessly on a low couch, watching Ty Lee amble about with heavy lidded eyes.

“So,” Ty Lee said, drawing out the single syllable. “What are we going to tell them when they ask us to contact the Avatar?” She picked up a vase that held crystal instead of flowers, holding the semi-clear rocks up to her eye.

Azula pushed away from the doorframe, taking her time to walk to the vanity, “We’ll have to come up with answers as we go, but remain as non-specific as possible.” She knelt so she could start scrubbing off her make-up. Mai and Ty Lee’s faces were already bare, and she was too tired to wait for them to go to bed. They could see her without make-up once in a while.

Mai sat up, pulling her legs under herself to kneel. “What if he asks us a specific question?” She drawled. 

“If he gets too invasive, we’ll tell him Kyoshi is protecting the current Avatar, so we don’t have anymore information.” Azula answered haughtily, waving her hand dismissively, a damp cloth between her fingers. “I have everything under control.”

Ty Lee set the vase of crystals down, and moved on to pull an odd, metal instrument attached to a short pencil out of a drawer. “Of course you do, but for all my knowledge on auras and chi, I don’t know that much about contacting the dead. I’d hate for us to do it wrong, and alert the Dai Li. Or worse, anger the Spirits.” She fiddled with the object in her hands, twisting a dial that widened and narrowed the two arms of the V it formed.

Azula sighed, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose to ward off her headache. “On second thought,” She snapped, “Why don’t you let me do the talking?” Her sisters in arms actually seemed _nervous_ about this plan. It was not as if any of Azula’s previous plots had hurt them. “If the agent speaks to you directly, you may answer, but that’s it.”

Ty Lee hummed and nodded, dropping the tool back in the drawer with a clatter.

Azula dragged the cloth across her face, and when she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror again, she drew in a startled gasp. Zuko’s face was there, peering over her right shoulder, his eyes glinting.

Then, he was moving to kneel beside her, reaching for her face with a hand.

Azula scrambled backwards, scattering the cushions she was sitting on across the floor. Somehow, this didn’t put any distance between herself and Zuko; his fingertips were still mere inches from her face. It was as though he hadn’t needed to adjust his position, and he could simply be wherever he wanted to be.

Luckily, before his fingertips could graze her skin, Ty Lee cried, “Azula!”

Azula snapped her gaze towards the chi blocker, whose grey eyes were wide.

“Azula?” Mai spoke this time.

Breathing hard, Azula turned to look at Zuko again, only to find he was gone. Of course. He always disappeared at the crucial moments. Quickly, she sat up, glancing between her friends. She couldn’t tell if they had seen him or not; she only saw fear and apprehension on their faces.

Azula cleared her throat, getting to her feet. “We should sleep, it’s late.” She arranged her robes to lay properly on her body, and slipped into one of the three bedrooms of their suite.

~ ~ ~

Long Feng wasted no time in arranging an opportunity to use the girls’ abilities to thwart the Avatar. The very next morning, Azula, Mai and Ty Lee knelt on thin green cushions, facing Long Feng and several Dai Li agents. Too many agents. Not that they made Azula nervous, but it was excessive.

“So,” Long Feng pressed his fingertips together. “How does this work?”

True to their plan, Azula spoke up, “We have to meditate, and if Kyoshi wishes, she will speak to us.”

Long Feng cocked an eyebrow. “I was under the impressive this was more of an exact science.”

“There is no such thing in the spirit world, sir.” Azula replied. Using “sir” for that man felt like acid was being poured on her tongue, but she said it as though she was the one who should be showing him respect, instead of the other way around.

Long Feng made a sound that was probably meant to be a condescending hum, but sounded more like an impatient grumble.

Shifting into a cross-legged position, and trusting Mai and Ty Lee to follow suit, Azula closed her eyes, pretending to meditate.

She _had_ meditated before. Not since she was nine, and her mother still lived, but she was familiar with the procedure. She just didn’t see the point of it. It was completely inactive, and therefore completely unproductive. As soon as she was able to bully her tutors out of forcing the practice upon her, she did.

After waiting just long enough to make the overpowered captain of the guard squirm, but not so long that he got angry, Azula opened her eyes.

Zuko was standing over Long Feng’s shoulder, his arms crossed tightly across his chest. Azula did not outwardly startle, she just took a deep breath through her nose. It felt like she wasn’t getting enough oxygen; like Zuko sucked it all from the room just by being there.

“Avatar Kyoshi has spoken to me,” She said, and her voice did not shake. “She knows where the Avatar is, but she wants to know what you intend to do with him, once you find him.”

Long Feng nodded, and Azula could practically see the cogs in his brain turning. “I think, first, you should prove to us that you really are speaking to Kyoshi.” Zuko turned to watch the man speak, breaking eye contact with Azula. Breathing came easier without his eyes on her.

“How do you propose we do that?” Azula asked.

Apparently, Long Feng had come prepared. “My agents and I know why the Avatar came here originally, I assume you do not.”

Azula and the girls shook their heads, lying

“If the Avatar is as connected with his past lives as they say he is, Kyoshi will know this. Ask her, and tell us.”

Perfect. Azula, of course, already knew that the Avatar had come to the city to find his giant flying creature. It _would_ be a necessary luxury to have such speedy transportation, especially when your transportation could fly you right past the enemy. She shut her eyes and pretended to focus.

A few minutes later, she reported back.

Long Feng’s face did not betray his reaction. Instead, he abruptly asked, “Can you contact the Avatar?”

“The current Avatar? Not directly,” Azula replied, allowing some false confusion to shine through. She hoped it was believable; it was hard to stay focused when Zuko was so present, taking up all the air.

“Ask Kyoshi to contact him,” Long Feng demanded. “We need to find a way to get him out of the city. Unfortunately, the boy is convinced we have the bison in our possession, but I assure you, no one in the city has ever even seen a flying bison. Well, except the Avatar and his… friends, I suppose.” The disrespect Long Feng had for the Avatar was interesting. She would have expected the Earth Kingdom to be clamoring for Avatar Aang’s attention. 

“ _Avatar_ Kyoshi,” Ty Lee piped up. Everyone turned to stare at her. “It’s disrespectful not to use her full title,” She defended. She did not have the good sense to act embarrassed by the attention. 

“Of course,” Long Feng said, his voice slimy.

“Unfortunately,” Azula did not address Ty Lee’s interjection, despite agreeing with her. Avatar Kyoshi may have been from the Earth Kingdom, but she was quite powerful. “Avatar Kyoshi will not be able to convince Avatar Aang of anything, I’m sure. She can only speak to him with his express invitation.”

“I thought you said you could contact the Avatar himself.” Long Feng’s voice was low, almost angry.

“We did not,” Azula said, refusing to be frustrated. “We cannot do anything so specific. Our spiritual gifts have their limitations. We are still willing to help in any way we can.”

Long Feng was silent for a long moment. Zuko, who had been standing nearby this whole time, stepped around him and walked towards Azula. It felt as if a noose was tightening around her throat. Trying to relieve some of the pressure, she ticked her head to the side, cracking her neck. When that didn’t help, she clenched her fists in her lap, desperately trying to avoid his gaze. 

“Azula,” He said. She ignored him. “Azula?” She squeezed her eyes shut.

A slender finger poked her shoulder, and Azula jumped to her feet, ready to fight. Glancing down, she saw Ty Lee, her pointer finger extended, her lips pursed in surprise.

“Long Feng was asking you a question, Lai.” Right. Her Earth Kingdom name. Only Zuko would call her Azula, here. He knew no one else could hear him. He was still there, back to hovering near Long Feng. Typical. He always goaded her then pretended that nothing happened. Well, he hadn’t exactly done that when they were little, that had always been her trick, but he was doing it now.

Azula knelt again, and nodded stiffly to Long Feng.

He narrowed his eyes at her, but obliged, letting her pretend nothing had happened, and repeated himself, “In order to protect the city, we have been planning on temporarily taking the Avatar and his little brigade into custody.”

“Does the king know?” Mai asked. So much for the plan to let Azula talk.

Finally, the meaning of what Long Feng had said sunk in. And it was… surprising. Not only surprising, but too easy. Once again, a leader of a nation (for Long Feng was clearly the leader here, not the Earth King) was asking her to capture the avatar. It would be laughably simple to go out, capture the child, and bring him back to her father instead of back to the Earth palace. But that was too easy. Besides, Azula was the first to successfully infiltrate Ba Sing Se during the war, and she was going to make the most of it. She would go all the way, and succeed where her predecessors had failed.

Long Feng answered Mai’s question, “The king cannot be bothered with all the ins and outs of bureaucracy,” He still spoke directly to Azula, despite the fact that Mai had been the last to speak. Good. “He has left that up to me.”

Azula, having regained her ability to speak, said in a low voice, “I’m not sure that capturing the Avatar falls under the umbrella of bureaucracy.”

“I assure you, this is within the bounds of legality,” Long Feng stated. It sounded like something he had to promise often.

“I’m sure,” Azula agreed, passively. “Perhaps you’d like to explain to us what we will be doing?”

As Long Feng launched into his explanation, an idea was already starting to form in Azula’s mind. And idea to finally get the Earth Kingdom under her control.

~ ~ ~

It had been a long time since this chase was just about bringing her brother and uncle back home. When the Avatar had entered the picture, she couldn’t let the opportunity pass her by, and he joined her list of targets. Now, another opportunity was presenting herself, and she would be a fool if she did not take it. The chance to take the Earth Kingdom capital was staring her in the face. It was a feat her forefathers had lacked the strength and cunning for, but she did not. 

If she was just in this for her brother, she wouldn’t have even made it this far. So, with a bigger prize in mind, she would have to delay capturing the Avatar, like she had delayed capturing her brother. She knew it would all come together in due time.

~ ~ ~

The next morning, Azula took a walk around the palace: a chance to examine the layout of the building while giving herself the chance to think. Long Feng’s demands had been unoriginal: join the Dai Li in spying on the Avatar, and in a week or two, abduct each of them in quick succession, leaving the Avatar himself for last. It might have worked; Azula knew simplicity had its place among short term goals. However, she had no intention of following through. She had other things in mind.

She was done with her walk by eight am, and she walked back into the suite to find Mai and Ty Lee kneeling at the vanities, scrubbing at their faces.

“Hello, girls,” She greeted. She had been planning to remind them of what to do and say when they had their meeting with Long Feng today, but something about the image before her stopped her.

It took her a moment to figure it out, but once she did, she berated her companions, “Why are you taking your face paint off? We are going to talk with the king soon.” Her friends just stared at her like antelope-gazelles frozen in front of a speeding wagon. Azula crossed her arms. “We have the optima of Fire Nation features, without the paint we could not pass as Earth Kingdom commoners.”

Ty Lee gave Azula an awkward smile. “Oh yeah, oops.” 

The eye make-up was still intact, but the lipstick and the white paint on the lower halves of their faces was rubbed off.

Mai did not bother to reply at all; she just set down her damp rag and picked up a brush to reapply. The exposed skin on her face was very red, as though she had rubbed it raw, or she was having an allergic reaction.

Azula rolled her eyes. She hadn’t thought she would have to explain that to her normally quite competent cohort.

~ ~ ~

They didn’t have an official meeting with the king, but getting in the palace was half the battle. Azula had located the throne room during her morning walk, and that’s where the three of them were headed now. The door to the throne room was absurdly large, and could only be opened with Earth bending. Which was appropriate, being the Earth Kingdom and all. Not that it mattered; the palace would be remodeled soon anyway.

Azula didn’t really believe in fate; determination and and iron will would get you through, not the spirits’ schemes. However, even she could not deny that her plan was falling into place astoundingly well, as if the spirits really did have a hand in it. 

Luckily, the Dai Li agents guarding the enormous door had already heard that the Kyoshi Warriors were staying in the palace under the direct orders of Long Feng. They knew the girls were helping him with an important mission, and if the warriors’ leader was requesting an audience with the king, they couldn’t really turn her away. She said it was for His Majesty’s own safety.

Besides, the agents would do anything to stop her cold, frightening eyes from staring into their’s.

The king sat on a throne large enough to match the door, and a few guards, not agents, flanked him. Long Feng himself was nowhere in sight. It seemed their good fortune was continuing.

Azula got down on her knees and bowed, Mai and Ty Lee doing the same behind her.

“What’s this?” The king asked, without malice.

“Your majesty,” Azula said, without lifting her forehead from the ground. “We have some troubling information concerning your advisor.”

The king stayed silent for a moment, then said, incredulously, “Go on.”

Azula sat up. “As you know, the Avatar is in your city.”

Strangely, the king did not seem to know. “ _The_ Avatar? Here? How can that be?” He leaned forward, his eyes wide, dumbfounded.

How could he not know? “I believe the Dai Li were taking care of it, my liege,” Azula replied, carefully. “And now they’re trying to kidnap him to use his powers for a coup. Once they have the Avatar, Long Feng intends to dethrone you.”

The king merely scoffed, “That’s absurd. Besides, I cannot trust three young people who I don’t know, no matter how prestigious their position may be, over my own advisor.”

Luckily, this was an argument Azula had actually been expecting. “We understand, your majesty, but we can prove it. Long Feng has asked us to go get to Avatar, since he knows and trusts us already, and we can show you when it happens.”

The king narrowed his eyes, surveying her. “I cannot spend any more of my valuable time investigating this _story_.”

“But, what if it’s not a story? What if we’re telling the truth? It would be worth your time, then.” Azula pressed.

The king rubbed the arm of his throne, looking away from the girls as he thought. Patiently, Azula waited for him to make up his mind.

“How long is this going to take?” He sighed.

That was all the consent Azula needed.

~ ~ ~

That very afternoon, Azula, Mai and Ty Lee stood in the middle of Long Feng’s office, the green glow giving their skin a sickly pallor. The Earth King himself was hidden in the office, as well as two guards who were not under Long Feng’s direction. Long Feng himself was only just entering.

He jumped, startled, almost stumbling back out of the doorway. “You’re quite early,” He accused.

Azula nodded, “We find punctuality to be of the utmost importance.”

Long Feng grumbled unintelligibly before he regained his composure. He sniffed, and took his seat in front of his crystalline hearth.

“Well, down to business,” He began. This was going to be quick. Azula carefully suppressed a proud grin. “You’ll find the target in the upper ring, I have a few agents who will lead you. From there, it’s up to you, but I want him in the palace by midnight.” He waved them away, impatient. The meeting was over before it was even meant to start.

That wasn’t good enough. Azula cleared her throat, “So, force may not be necessary to bring the Avatar into custody?”

“It’s up to you,” Long Feng said, still irritated. “So long as he’s still alive, it would be a disaster if he were to die.”

“Because you need the Avatar alive,” Ty Lee clarified.

Long Feng turned his gaze on Ty Lee. “You could say that.”

“What are you planning on doing with him?” Mai asked. They had enough proof now, but it would be nice to trick Long Feng into sharing even more.

However, this was too much. “I need him for- We already discussed all of this,” He huffed, but he didn’t get much further. The king’s guards surged out from the shadows, and tackled Long Feng to the ground. 

The weasel-like man fell hard against the stone ground. “What in the name of Koh is this?”

“Long Feng, you are under arrest for crimes against the Earth King,” One guard said, handcuffing the advisor as he struggled and bucked against his attackers.

The guards pulled him roughly to his feet, and he was finally able to see Azula’s face. Their eyes met, and Azula’s saw his flash with rage as he was dragged out of his own office, surely down to the prison below the palace. She smirked, then smoothed her expression out to face the king, who had come out of hiding as well.

He looked like his world was crumbling around him. The only thing he managed to say was, “Thank you.”

Ty Lee spoke up, “Our pleasure.” Her words were casual, but her tone was quite somber.

“I suppose I need someone to take over his job,” The king mused absently, staring at the place Long Feng had been standing before being dragged away.

Azula waited.

“Well,” The king shook himself, back to business, “at least until you have to return to your island, would you like to keep my agents organized? You have proven your dedication to your kingdom admirably.”

Azula took care not to answer right away, giving herself a moment to pretend to consider his proposition. Then, she nodded, graciously. “I would be honored.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know your thoughts! Thank you all for everything so far :D You're all lovely.


	10. Ty Lee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ty Lee takes the reins for a minute or two.
> 
> Alternative Chapter Title: Just a little pining, as a treat

There was something wrong with Azula.

Yeah, there had always been something at least a little wrong with Azula, maybe a lot wrong, but this was different. Normally, Azula was alarmingly ruthless and so emotionally distant that Ty Lee had to wonder if she even had them. Lately, though, she had been so on edge that she would space out and stare at nothing, then freak out when Ty Lee tried to get her attention.

They had been in charge for almost two weeks now, and Azula had already made some major changes, as Ty Lee expected. However, she was somehow less efficient than normal, like there was something on her mind, slowing her down.

The three of them were in Long Feng’s, now Azula’s, office, and Azula was spacing out again. Ty Lee and Mai had been chatting about the bland decor, when Ty Lee realized that Azula hadn’t said anything in a while, and turned to include her in the conversation. She saw Azula frowning, staring at a spot next to the alcove in the wall with the hunk of green rock. Her eyebrow was twitching in her agitation. As far as Ty Lee could tell, there was no reason to be so upset; that bit of wall was just as plain as the rest of the room. Her frustration was probably internal, though.

“Azula?” Ty Lee called, keeping her tone bright, “What do you think of this green lighting? Do you think we can get it replaced?”

Azula didn’t show any sign of having heard her, and Ty Lee exchanged a nervous glance with Mai. Mai’s expression didn’t betray _her_ nervousness, but Ty Lee noticed how the hem of her skirt twitched with her foot tapping underneath.

“Azula,” Ty Lee said again, taking a small step towards her. Then, louder, “Azula!”

Azula jumped about a foot in the air and whirled towards the other two girls, chest suddenly heaving.

Ty Lee exchanged another pointed glance with Mai, and the taller girl sniffed. “I’m gonna go find some guards. Or, uh, _agents_ ,” She corrected herself, with a roll of her eyes. “See if there’s any lurking around to interrogate. In a, um, friendly coworker way.”

Mai slipped out into the corridor with a swish of her skirt, and was gone.

Ty Lee turned back to Azula, doing her best to look unassuming and sweet. “How do you feel? Since your plan succeeded. Easily.” She walked towards her old friend, who was arranging her hair back to perfection, trying to make it look like she wasn’t fiddling with it.

Azula sniffed, “Oh, I knew it would.” She ran her fingertip along the mantle, avoiding Ty Lee’s eyes.

“Me too,” Ty Lee agreed. She let the silence sit for a moment, knowing she would have to prompt Azula into saying anything more, but hoping she would do so on her own, anyway. “How have you been doing in general?”

“Never better,” Azula traced a pattern in the dust on the mantle. It was a testament to her absent-mindedness that she did not brush the dust away completely. “Why do you ask?”

“Well,” If she couldn’t be up front with Azula, then no one could. “You’ve seemed a little on edge lately. A little distant, maybe.” It was as close to “up front” as she could get.

Azula pursed her lips, but she didn’t seem so angry that she might flip out. Ty Lee let out the breath she had been holding, silently.

“I’d like to tell you,” Azula whispered.

Ty Lee’s jaw dropped slightly. She had to fight to keep from fainting in shock. She had expected yelling and fighting, maybe even some blue fire. If not that, then she at least thought Azula would brush it off, Ty Lee would give up after half-heartedly cajoling her a little, and they would never speak of this again. But somehow, Azula had actually accepted her invitation to talk.

Dumbly, yet encouragingly, Ty Lee nodded.

Azula’s perfectly shaped eyebrows drew together and she continued staring at the dust on the mantlepiece, some of it staining her index finger tip grey.

She continued, still whispering, “You’ll think I’m crazy.” Some of the ice was back in her tone, but it was thin.

Ty Lee shook her head hastily, laying a hand on Azula’s upper arm, “No, I could never.”

“Weak, then,” Azula answered.

Ty Lee snorted, “I don’t think so.”

Azula still didn’t lift her eyes, but shockingly, she went on, “Fine.” Ty Lee was floored, but she was fighting not to show it, to just be supportive and attentive. “Lately… Well, not just lately, actually, I’ve been… I’ve been thinking a lot about my family. I mean, my brother specifically. He’s not exactly family, since he’s disowned and all, but what else do I call him?” She squinted, then shook herself, taking a deep breath before plunging back into her explanation, “Anyway, I’ve been thinking about him, probably because we’re trying to find him, but it’s not just that I’ve been thinking about him. He’s kind of… with me.” She trailed off, her expression suddenly hardening, her hand freezing where she was tracing the trim on the mantelpiece.

Gently, Ty Lee said, “You miss him?”

Instead of achieving the desired effect of lulling Azula back into her state of vulnerability, Ty Lee’s question jolted Azula back to her usual, cold self. She brushed Ty Lee’s hand off of her arm and sniffed, professional again.

“Not really, we just need to bring him back to my father. I’m very focused on my goals, Ty Lee.”

Ty Lee carefully did not snort in response. “Yes, I know. Your dedication is definitely the best I’ve ever seen. You’re a real inspiration like that.”

Azula hummed in agreement, and started for the door. “I have a speech to give to the agents. Time to let them know who’s in charge.”

~ ~ ~

The agents were scared stiff. Even though Azula often used her terrifying powers of intimidation of her and Mai, Ty Lee got a certain perverse joy in seeing grown men quake in their boots when subjected to Azula’s glare. It used to just creep her out, but she had gotten used to Azula’s methods. Perhaps her level of comfort at this point was concerning, but she didn’t really want to have a moral crisis over it. Uncertainty and stress were horrible for your chi paths. And your aura. And your blood pressure.

Ty Lee scanned the rows of agents for any sign of femininity, but it seemed like the only women in the room were the three in Kyoshi Warrior uniforms. Disappointing. She knew the Earth Kingdom was backwards, but she had hoped their patriarchy would not be as absolute as her teachers had made it out to be in class. She could only hope that a few women had been determined enough to disguise themselves as men to stand among them as agents.

Azula assured the Dai Li that the king would continue to be a figurehead, and their agency was still at the top of the Earth Kingdom’s government. Once she had gotten the housekeeping out of the way, she went in for the kill. Metaphorically. It’s important to distinguish when it comes to Azula.

“I will not be tolerating dissent. I’m sure you think you’re used to having a tough leader, but I assure you, my methods may shock you. I will not hesitate to personally squash any defiance in your ranks. Do not attempt to defy me. You’re dismissed.” And with that, rows upon rows of men in dark green filed out.

“Wow!” Ty Lee congratulated once the agents were gone. “You really outdid yourself, that was the _perfect_ blend of scary and inspiring.”

Mai, leaning charmingly against the wall, her lips quirked in a smirk, said, “Yeah, I thought that one guy was gonna piss his pants.”

Azula didn’t appear to have heard, but she did hum in agreement. Ty Lee frowned in concern. Despite their dysfunctional friendship, Ty Lee really cared about Azula, and this recent behavior was still setting off alarm bells in her mind. Perhaps Mai could help. Mai had such a good head on her shoulders, so she could probably sort this out. Ty Lee caught Mai’s eye, and did her best to wordlessly communicate her worry, her desire to do _something_. Luckily, Mai understood. Well, not luckily. After you know someone as long as Ty Lee had known Mai, you can basically read their mind. Especially when you have a third, more abrasive friend, who would prefer that all communication was funneled through her. Azula, the abrasive friend in question, meandered worryingly out of the room, neither noticing nor caring that the other girls hung back.

“She’s been weirder than usual lately,” Mai said, and it felt like reassurance, despite the less-than-ideal content of her statement.

“What should we do?” Ty Lee asked, hoping for a suggestion, although Mai’s acknowledgement could be enough.

Mai pursed her lips, painted an uncharacteristic red, and replied, “What can we do? She’s so… stubbornly independent.” Her mild words to describe the princess betrayed her subconscious fear that Azula was still listening.

“We can start by keeping an eye on her? Not leaving her alone too long?” Ty Lee was suddenly painfully aware that the princess of the Fire Nation was almost certainly currently alone.

“And then we’ll see what we find,” Mai finished the thought for her, nodding.

“Exactly,” Ty Lee already felt calmer. Nothing had changed, really. Having a plan didn’t usually fix problems, in her experience, but talking things out always helped. And Mai always listened to her. “Let’s go find her,” Ty Lee hooked her arm around Mai’s (which was not an ideal position when you wanted to be on alert) and dragged her into the hallway, hoping Azula would be easy to find.

~ ~ ~

For once, Azula was actually pretty easy to find. She was sitting in Long Feng’s office, surrounded by many carefully stacked papers and files. Behind her, there was a wall of drawers, each about the size of the palm of your hand, but they were deep, judging by the many drawers Azula had half dragged out. Ty Lee hadn’t noticed the wall was covered in drawers before just now; she had assumed it was just heavily engraved, like much of the rest of the palace.

Mai had unhooked their arms before they walked in, so Ty Lee approached the desk alone. “Hi, what’s all this?”

Azula did not glance up; she had already noticed their presence this time. “Long Feng kept files on everyone in the city, apparently.” She handed a scroll to Ty Lee. “This is addressed to the Water Tribe children who follow the Avatar around.”

Ty Lee did not point out that they were the same age as the “Water Tribe children” and examined the scroll Azula had thrust into her hands. “This is from the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe.”

Azula hummed. She knew that already.

“Why is their chief contacting them?” The answer came to Ty Lee as she said it: The teenagers were traveling with the Avatar, their last chance of winning the war. Of course the chief would want to know how that was going. She assumed Azula got similar correspondence from the Fire Lord.

Azula scoffed, “Read it, if you want.” She continued to parse through the papers on her desk.

Ty Lee didn’t really care to read it, so she passed the scroll to Mai, who was now standing at her elbow.

“Anyway,” Azula said, sighing, “I found something else interesting.”

Mai looked up from the scroll, which she had decided to read.

“In the lower ring of the city,” Azula unfurled a scroll and stared at it as she spoke, but she didn’t appear to be reading from it. She had already memorized the information on it. “There was an incident in a hole-in-the-wall teashop that suddenly got very popular. A young man barged into the shop, accusing two new employees of being firebenders,” She read the report as if she were bored, although she wouldn’t be reading it allowed if it wasn’t important. Ty Lee made sure her expression stayed open and receptive. “He and one of the new employees, another young man, got into a fight involving swords, and Dai Li agents were forced to intervene. The new employees were questioned, but they seem normal. They arrived here by ferry about a month ago, and are related as nephew and uncle. The elderly man is described as ‘graying, overweight, and jolly’,” Azula made a face at that, but continued, “And the nephew has a large burn scar over one eye.” She laid the paper on the table.”

“Oh,” Mai drawled, “Guess they’re here, too.” Though it was surely invisible to Azula, Ty Lee could see the worry etched in Mai’s brow.

Azula didn’t see a reason to respond to that.

“So, what now?” Ty Lee asked, “Are we gonna go look for them?”

“Not yet,” Azula rolled up the scroll and put it in its own space on the desk, and went back to opening drawers, done talking to them.

Mai and Ty Lee exchanged a glance, and wandered off to another part of the room, waiting to be needed, and keeping careful watch over their friend.

~ ~ ~

That night, as they took off their make-up, Azula started a conversation unrelated to business. This was a rare occurrence, and Ty Lee felt Mai freeze beside her as she pushed her bangs out of the way. 

“Ty Lee, you’re interested in the spirit world, aren’t you?” Azula glanced at Ty Lee at the beginning of her statement, but was soon back to peering into her own mirror.

It was exactly the sort of thing she and Mai had been on the look out for, falling right into their laps. Shaking off her surprise, Ty Lee answered as brightly as she could, “Oh yes, our chi connects us to the spirit world because it’s our own spiritual energy flowing through us. And, of course, our auras are the-” 

“Have you ever seen a spirit?” Azula interrupted.

Ty Lee couldn’t help but exchange a look with Mai, the other girl’s dark gold eyes flashing, unobstructed by her bangs for once. Ty Lee forced herself to tear her own gaze away to answer, “No. Not really. But auras are _kind of_ like the visual-”

“Can people _really_ see spirits?”

Ty Lee couldn’t imagine where this was coming from, but she did her best to answer. “If the spirits want to be seen. And the person probably has to have a connection to the spirit world already.” She gave herself a moment to wrack her brain to find a reason Azula might bring this up. “It’s probably different for the Avatar though,” She clarified. She tried one more time, spitting it out as quickly as possible. “But living people have a sort of visual spirituality that presents as their aura.” Success.

Azula, who had removed all of her face paint by now, was still rubbing at her cheek. “Can auras leave your body?”

That was officially outside of Ty Lee’s scope of knowledge. “I’m not sure,” She admitted. If your spirit could leave your body, it probably wouldn’t exactly be an _aura_ anymore, right? But she didn’t say that; giving the princess bad information could only lead to trouble.

Azula did not indicate she had heard, but she Ty Lee didn’t want to repeat herself, lest the other girl get angry with her for being redundant. Redundancy was something Azula had been known to get upset about.

It was never clear whether Azula had heard or not, because she soon got to her feet to drift off to her room. When the door slid closed behind her, Ty Lee finally dared to make eye contact with Mai again.

“What do you think that was about?”

Mai shrugged. Her shiny, black bangs were askew on her forehead. It was cute, and Ty Lee could properly see the outline of Mai’s profile from her hairline to her chin. The ridge of her brows, the bold bridge of her nose, the curve of her lips… which were moving. She was responding. “Avatar stuff?”

Ty Lee could only shrug in irresolute agreement, giving Mai a crooked, hopefully reassuring, grin. Mai smiled softly back.

~ ~ ~

Ty Lee was on duty. Meaning, she was watching Azula. Technically, Mai was actually on duty because she was guarding the king, but watching Azula for signs that she was not entirely grounded in reality was also a job. They were standing in one of the many rooms of the palace. Ty Lee could not fathom why so many rooms were necessary. Earlier in her life, she had been used to all the extra space, being born into a noble family. It was customary for entire wings to be set up just for show. But after living in the cramped tents and caravans of the circus, she could only see all that extraneous space as frivolous.

Azula was no longer aware of Ty Lee’s presence, and had started muttering to herself. Ty Lee couldn’t make much of anything out, but it seemed like the new head of the Dai Li was trying to keep all of her tasks straight in her head by muttering them allowed. So, normal enough. Ty Lee had never seen Azula do it, especially not when someone was very clearly within earshot, but that didn’t mean anything was wrong with her.

But then, after about ten minutes of dull on and off muttering, Azula snapped her attention to her left. Ty Lee could see the other girl’s profile, an alarmed expression distorting her cold, perfect features. The girls were at opposite ends of the spacious room, but the sound still traveled.

Azula got to her feet so fast she almost kicked her table over, and Ty Lee jumped at the sound. Every part of the princess’s body was stiff as a flying pygmy raccoon, run over by an ostrich-horse with rigor mortis setting in. 

“What do you want _now_?” Azula demanded. Ty Lee scanned the area Azula was glaring at, but she was certain there was nothing and nobody to yell at. There was just a blank, puke green wall, and Azula, her body wound up like a spring.

“Talking isn’t nothing,” Azula snarled, and after a moment of silence, erratically flailed an arm out at the wall. “Go ahead then, let’s get this over with.” She looked away from the wall, nudging her table back into place with her foot. 

“I’m busy, stupid,” She spat, looking up from her foot. “The world doesn’t revolve around you.” She started to roll her eyes as she spoke, but her face hardened into a glare while she paused. “I didn’t- Shut up!”

Azula silently and unnervingly glared at the wall, bunching and un-bunching her fists in agitation.

“You _know_ what I’m doing with my time. I _know_ you watch me all the time. You’re _always_ here with me, even if I can’t see you.” If Ty Lee was the kind of person who swore, she may have done so, silently, now.

During this pause, Azula got terribly worked up. She kept rocking on her heels, as if she was going to lunge at the silent wall and fight it, and she was making tiny, high pitched noise of rage. She ran a hand through her black hair, pulling some pieces out of her top knot.

“What do you know about it? Father never trusted you with a project like this, you don’t know what kind of work I have to do.” Her next statement came quickly, in response to words only she could hear. “And I’ve done that! I know where you are.” Azula pointed her sharp fingernail at the wall threateningly, spit flying from her lips. “Stop baiting me!” She turned back to her half-written scroll with a frustrated shout. “Go away,” She growled, almost too low to hear. 

She took a moment to catch her breath, her back to Ty Lee. Then, Azula reached up to pull the ribbon from her hair and shook her top knot loose, and meticulously tied it back up again.

Maybe Ty Lee _was_ the kind of person who silently swore.

Her head was spinning. This was a level of unhinged that had not even occurred to her. She thought Azula was a little sleep deprived, or stressed out about her father’s unattainable expectations, or something of similar caliber that Ty Lee could understand. This was… well this was a heck of a lot worse.

Ty Lee ran through the conversation (or rather, disjointed speech) she had just overheard, trying to make sense of it. Maybe there was no sense to be made, but she would try.

Well, she had mentioned her father, and whoever she thought she was talking to had apparently flagrantly disappointed the Firelord. Well, General Iroh was known for disrespecting the crown. So, of course, was Zuko. Oh. She had been talking about her brother just the other day. Ty Lee had assumed she just missed him, but this wasn't just the stirrings of a latent conscience. Ty Lee would have been devastated if one of her sisters were kicked out of the nation, but she had never thought of Azula as someone who could be affected by things. She rolled with the punches, and punched back. 

Although, considering the amount of punches that life had thrown at her, maybe Azula had been unable to dodge a few of them.

Ty Lee knew she was out of her depth here, but she knew a little about the brain. She knew a fair bit about spirituality. Maybe she knew something to quietly and secretly help her old friend.

And if not that, she would have to be able to protect Mai from this precarious new danger. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :P Hi guys. I loved writing Ty Lee's perspective as well; more than Azula, even. Well, no matter, Azula's perspective will be back next time.  
> Love you all!! Thank you for reading this, you are cool for doing so.


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